Vol. X No. 3 September 1995 Wisconsin Chronicl The Newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind 1995 NFBW State Convention The Twentieth Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin will be held Friday October 20 through Sunday October 22 at the elegant surroundings of the Marriott, 7111 Washington Ave., Racine Wisconsin. Marriott s facilities include; indoor swimming pool, sauna, whirlpool, workout room, in-room coffee makers and complementary coffee. Saturday and Sunday feature Marriott's quality breakfast buffet for only $7.95. Our room rates are envied by all. $55.00 for all rooms, single (one person per room), double (two persons per room), triple (three persons per room), or quad (four persons per room). Make reservations with the Racine Marriott, 7111 Washington Ave., Racine, WI, 53406, (414) 886-6100. A guarantied reservation requires a major credit card number or one night advance payment on, or before, October 7, 1995. To receive these low convention rates you must inform the hotel that you are reserving rooms for the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Convention. Marriott will also provide free shuttle service from Milwaukee Mitchell Field Airport to the Racine Marriott and back. Reserve the shuttle when you make your hotel reservations. The NFB of Wisconsin will provide child care for parents bringing young children to the convention. The convention will begin with registration at 6:30 pm on Friday October 20. At 7:00 hospitality room for friends and food, and a pool party for all. The convention agenda is packed with information about education of blind children, job skills training and employment opportunities for blind adults, and motivating idea for educators working with the blind. The highlight of the convention will be a banquet address given by Ramona Walhof, NFB National Representative. Mrs. Walhof is the President of the National Federation of the Blind of Idaho, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Blind, author of such books as Beginning Braille for Adults, Questions Kids Ask About Blindness, and A Handbook for senior Citizens. She is the former director of the Idaho Commission for the Blind and now administers her own Public Relations Firm. The annual NFBW auction will take place after the Banquet. Auction items include foods, wines, cheeses, toys, CD's, gift certificates and much, much more. The Racine Marriott has also donated a Bed and Breakfast For Two coupon, retailed at $125.00 for the auction. This will be the most exciting and enjoyable convention in Federation history. Hundreds of dollars of great door prizes, a terrific auction, excellent hotel and meeting accommodations and stimulating program items. Get your reservations and convention pre-registration form in today. It s Time for a Wisconsin Commission for the Blind Why are Wisconsin's programs for the blind a disgrace? The Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped (WSVH), the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) make money off people's blindness while providing services that are substandard and beyond belief. These agency budgets have grown as their services have degenerated. The Legislature has been unable to hold these agencies to the same standards of fiscal restraint and responsible management expected of agencies serving the general public. The current system is confusing to parents of blind children and blind adults. Even with the proposed Department of Education and DVR move to the Department of Industry Labor and Job Development, services for the blind will still be sprawled from Department to Department. The Problem: WSVH has ignored recommendations from two consecutive legislative audits, 1987 89-16 and 1994 94-11, regarding excessive spending and declining enrolment. Over the past four years enrollment decreased 14 percent as spending increased 28.8 percent. Only 8 percent of Wisconsin's blind children attend WSVH. Ninety-two percent of blind children are enrolled in public and private schools, or because of parental frustration with DPI are being home-schooled. It costs $68,200 to educate one student at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped, ten times that of public schools WSVH receives $1,031,800 over budget. It costs $68,200 to educate one residential student at WSVH. WSVH employs 110 people to educate 80 students. The teacher/student ratio is so low it breaks DPI's own rules on such matters: primary grades one teacher - four students, secondary grades one teacher - three students. WSVH used one million dollars in Federal discretionary funds for an Outreach Program to tape textbooks, give cane travel instruction and assessments to blind children in the public schools, duplicating existing services. The Library of Congress National Library Services for the Blind (NLS), Recordings for the Blind, American Printing House for the Blind and Wisconsin's Volunteer Services and Volunteer Braillists already record and Braille textbooks. Assessments of blindness skills and cane travel instruction are the jobs of teachers of the blind employed in school districts or at the twelve Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA) throughout Wisconsin. Nowhere in America does a school for the blind receive so much money for doing so little. No school should receive more money for educating fewer students. In Wisconsin teachers who are paid to teach blind children Braille don't know Braille Wisconsin Act 164 was passed in 1992. The law required that before a license can be issued or renewed the teacher for the blind must demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing and teaching Braille, with the standards set by the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind developed a free Braille Literacy Test with the assistance of national organizations of and for the blind. DPI and WEAC fought for agency rules that watered down the law. New teachers of blind children hired in Wisconsin must take the Library of Congress Braille Literacy test. Existing teachers of blind children still don't know Braille. Blind children have a better chance of getting cocaine in our schools than they ever have of getting instruction in Braille. DPI encouraged illiteracy among teachers of blind children and placed a great burden on the few teachers who do know Braille. The blind are giving up their residency in Wisconsin to get better rehabilitation services out-of-state Blind adults receive miserable services from DVR. Demeaning treatment, negative attitudes about blindness, unsigned third-party contracts, falsified reports, waiting lists to go nowhere, forcing clients into programs that do not meet the client's needs. Despite community outrage, testimony in front of the Joint Finance Committee in 1989 and 1990, LAB audit 90-31 of DVR supported adjustment to blindness programs, LAB audits 85-20 and 91-13 of DVR, the agency continues to mismanage and manipulate funds and its blind clients. The National Federation of the Blind cannot wait forever for Wisconsin's services for the blind to improve. In 1989 we built BLIND Inc. (Blindness Learning in New Dimensions) in Minneapolis Minnesota and we didn't sap money out of the government as is done in Wisconsin. BLIND Inc. is an adjustment to blindness center managed and staffed and owned by blind people with positive attitudes about blindness and high standards. Enrollment rose so fast that BLIND Inc. outgrew its first building. In 1994 the NFB bought the Pillsberry Mansion to contain BLIND Inc. Since 1991 thirteen people have given up their residency in Wisconsin to attend BLIND Inc. rather than forced into the DVR sponsored programs in Wisconsin. The Solution: Separate agencies for the blind are more effective because they eliminate wasteful duplication of services, are more accountable to the public, and have a higher rate of success for people who are blind. Because separate agencies for the blind are so effective TITLE ONE Sec. 101. (1))(A)(I) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended allows states to create a separate agency for the blind. "Where under the State's law the State Agency for individuals who are blind or other agency which provides assistance or services to adults who are blind, is authorized to provide vocational rehabilitation services to such individuals, such agency may be designated as the sole State agency to administer the part of the plan under which vocational rehabilitation services are provided for individuals who are blind (or to supervise the administration of such part by a local agency) and a separate State agency may be designated as the sole State agency with respect to the rest of the State plan" The Wisconsin Legislature should: 1. Reduce funding for the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped to the level recommended by the Legislative Audit Bureau. 2. Request an analysis to determine total dollars used by Wisconsin state agencies to provide services for blind children and adults. 3. Work for legislation to create a three-member commission, appointed by the Governor. The Wisconsin Commissions for the Blind would be responsible for administering the fiscal and human resources for all services for the blind in Wisconsin per Title One sec. 101 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Services to include: Rehabilitation counselors for the blind, Rehabilitation teachers for the blind, Business Enterprise Program (BEP), Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped (WSVH), teachers who hold 825 or 826 licenses with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to t each Braille and cane travel to blind and visually handicapped school-aged children, Special contracts related to services for the blind in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Promotes Faulty Accreditation for the Blind by Bonnie Peterson If you've ever wondered why services for the blind are so pitiful in Wisconsin the following article will give you the answer. (National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped). As Federationists know, NAC has falsely represented itself as an agency interested in promoting high standards in the blindness field. In reality NAC has protected and supported the most unsavory agencies. and lowered standards of education and training for the blind to depths almost unimaginable, leaving behind sexually abused children and adults, high service costs, ineptitude and death. After thirty years, NAC's reputation is well known. Beaten and broken NAC limps to its death. Enter Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), a strong NAC supporter, because NAC is the only agency that would say DVR was doing a good job. DVR surreptitiously promoted NAC in its Guide to Services for the Blind in Wisconsin, not as an accrediting body, but to play it safe, "Self-study and evaluation guides are available". Confusing definition? Yes, but it served its purpose. In the past three years, the Rehabilitation Service Administration refused further federal funding to NAC. The Department of Education removed NAC from its list of accrediting bodies because what NAC was accrediting did not fall under the category of "institutions of higher education". The American Foundation for the Blind and National Industries for the Blind refused further funding as well. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Industries for the Blind dumped their NAC accreditations. NAC could no longer afford its New York Madison Avenue suite and moved to cheaper quarters. Out of roughly 500 possible accrediting sources, having once accredited hundreds, NAC was now down to sixty-eight. Sixty-seven. (The ink was hardly dry on the letter, from the Governor's office to the NFB of Wisconsin, before the Tennessee School for the Blind dropped its NAC accreditation). DVR knew its little friend, NAC, was in big trouble. DVR rushed to the rescue with a new June 1995 publication of its Guide to Services for the Blind, this time with a more lucrative pitch for NAC. "NAC administers program of standards development and accreditation for programs, agencies and schools serving children and adults who are blind and visually impaired." With DVR moving to the Department of Labor and new, inexperienced, management and service providers who knew nothing about blindness and could be easily fooled by ignoring the organized blind consumers, maybe Wisconsin could breath new life into NAC. DVR's little friend and cohort in crime wouldn't have to die after all. DVR's plan would have worked except for the National Federation of the Blind. On August 3, 1995 a letter was sent to Governor Tommy Thompson. After 44 days, one phone call, one fax and calls to three legislators the governor responded... with a letter promoting NAC. Here are the letters. August 3, 1995 Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol Madison, WI 53707 Dear Governor Thompson: I am writing regarding the most recent issue of your Division of Vocational Rehabilitation's Guide to Selected Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in Wisconsin. This "Guide" tells families and professionals about services (as the title says, "selected" for them). The National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC) appears on page nineteen of your Guide to Selected Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in Wisconsin. You are soliciting business for, and giving your seal of approval to, the shoddiest accrediting body in the nation. Only four of the fifty-two state rehabilitation agencies, eighteen of the eighty-two sheltered workshops, eighteen of the seventy-one residential schools are NAC accredited. Not one organization of the blind, library service for the blind, or employment related service for the blind is NAC accredited. In July of 1994, Richard W. Riley, secretary of the U. S. Department of Education, removed NAC from the Department's list of recognized accrediting bodies in accordance with Section 602.14(e)(2). NAC had no problem when a student was scalded to death in the shower at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. (Braille Monitor March 1989). NAC had no problem with the principal of the Arkansas School for the Blind spanking employees for his sexual gratification. (Braille Monitor, November 1994; Democrat Gazette, January 19, 1995). NAC had no problem with a superintendent who covered up frequent sexual abuse of young boys by older students at the Illinois School for the Blind. (Braille Monitor, May 1995; Jacksonville Journal-Courier, August 24, 1994). The Federal government does not recognize NAC accreditation. The Thompson administration recognizes and promotes it. Only one agency in Wisconsin accepts NAC accreditation, the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped (WSVH). WSVH, where for over ten years a principal sexually assaulted young girls until arrested. WSVH, where only 8 percent of Wisconsin's blind children go. WSVH, where a Legislative Audit Bureau report, 94-11, questions spending increases of 28.8 percent while enrollment decreased 14 percent. WSVH, where it costs a whopping $68,200 to educate one residential student. WSVH, whose employees fought legislation to require teachers who teach Braille, know Braille themselves. WSVH, with a teacher/student ratio that increases instead of decreases as students mature. WSVH, where most graduates will end as fodder for government supported, below minimum-wage, sheltered workshops. Sheltered from upward mobility, the free marketplace and hope. These are the results of NAC accreditation. Your administration knew of the controversy surrounding NAC. I point out the enclosed April 1989 letter from you to NFB and our subsequent response. I request your office take immediate steps to remove NAC from all copies of your Guide to Selected Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in Wisconsin. To insure the job is actually done, I also request you personally follow-up and monitor this situation. If it is your wish to promote NAC, I would be very interested in receiving correspondence to help me understand your reasoning. I will thank you in advance for your attention to this very serious matter. I am sure the inclusion of NAC was a mere oversight by your administration. Sincerely, Bonnie Peterson, President NFB of Wisconsin ------ September 11, 1995 Bonnie Peterson, President National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI 53221 Dear Ms. Peterson: Thank you for bringing to my attention your concerns about the listing of the National Accreditation Council (NAC) in the Guide to Selected Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in Wisconsin. The Guide is a directory of services and available programs which, as stated in the introduction, "may benefit" individuals with visual impairment. The inclusion of organizations, such as NAC in the Guide does not constitute an endorsement by the State of Wisconsin. NAC is an international organization of the Blind. It was founded in 1966 and has 68 members in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Several NAC sponsors are national organization affiliated with education and services for persons who are blind and visually impaired and for professional workers with the blind and visually impaired. NAC's removal from the department of Education listing of accrediting agencies was due to DOE's changes in eligibility criteria, not the quality or reliability of its services or accredited programs. See the attached letter from DOE to NAC and a reprint from the Federal Register on the changes in DOE's eligibility criteria and the names of all the organizations removed from the listing of accrediting agencies. Thank you for your letter. Sincerely, John W. Matthews, Chief of Staff Office of the Governor ------ September 18, 1995 Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol Madison, WI 53707 Dear Governor Thompson: I have the September 11, 1995 (postmarked September 15, 1995) response from your Chief of Staff, John Matthews, to the NFB's August 3, 1995 request to remove the National Accreditation Council for Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually Handicapped (NAC) from copies of your Division of Vocational Rehabilitation's Guide to Selected Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in Wisconsin, and I thank you for it. The letter states; The Guide is a directory of services and available programs which, as stated in the introduction, "may benefit" individuals with visual impairment. The inclusion of organizations such as NAC in the Guide does not constitute an endorsement by the State of Wisconsin. Why aren't services included in the Guide that "will benefit" blind people? If services are included in the Guide that "may not benefit" blind people, what are they doing there? Wisconsin uses CARF accreditation as its model for disability services, why isn't that in the Guide? Wisconsin chose to publish a Guide, chose which items, out of thousands of possibilities, will be in the Guide, uses tax dollars to print and distribute the Guide nationwide. What else can you call it, but endorsement? The six organizations mentioned as sponsors, by your Chief of Staff, of NAC have never been NAC accredited. The American Foundation for the Blind (at one time a major contributor) and National Industries for the Blind are on written record refusing NAC accreditation. The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) no longer funds NAC. The National Federation of the Blind finds NAC standards, substandard. It is as offensive to us to put NAC in a Guide to Services for the Blind as it would be to put the Ku Klux Klan in a Guide to Services for African- Americans. If Wisconsin published a Guide to Services for African-Americans and listed the Ku Klux Klan, would you say that wasn't an endorsement. If you did, who would believe it? Some people support the Ku Klux Klan, or it wouldn't exist. Does that mean minorities are supposed to put up with it? Some people support NAC, or NAC wouldn't exist. Does that mean the NFB is supposed to put up with it? I respectfully beseech you to remove NAC, label over, White out, from the more than 2,400 Guides remaining in twenty-one DVR Field Offices. I await your response. Sincerely, Bonnie Peterson, President NFB of Wisconsin The NFB will never give up until NAC is dead and buried. We will bring NAC's shameful record up everywhere, every time, and with everyone we can, for as long as it takes. Soon, very soon, DVR's little friend, NAC, will be gone for good. Who will cover up for the shoddy administrators who s chief talent is to make excuses for their own inefficience and service providers who know nothing of Braille, positive attitudes about blindness or the NFB? Convention Registration Form This years Convention of the NFB of Wisconsin will be held October 20 - 22, 1995 at the Marriott in Racine, Wisconsin. The registration fee for the convention is $5 for each person preregistering and $10 for those registering after October 15. Registration will be available at the Convention but preregistering will help us provide you with better service. This form may NOT be used to reserve rooms with the hotel. Hotel reservations must be made on or before October 7, by calling (414) 886-6100 or writing, Racine Marriott, 7111 Washington Ave., Racine, WI, 53406. Be sure to say you are registering for the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Convention. Costs for the Convention are as follows: Room Rates: $55.00 for one, two, three or four in a room. A deposit of one night lodging is required Convention Registration: $5.00 in advance or $10.00 after October 12. Banquet Ticket $15.00. (names of persons registering)______________________________________________________________ ________ (address)___________________________________(city)_________________________ ________ (state)________(zip)______Telephone Number (including area code_______________________ Number of Persons Registering on this Form: ________________. Amount enclosed for Registration: ________________________. I require ______ banquet tickets and am enclosing $__________ to cover this cost. Total Amount Enclosed: __$________________________________ Please make checks payable to the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin and send them with this form to: Miss Linda Mentink, 1737 Tamarack Lane, Janesville, WI 53545. I am bringing _____ child/children to child care at the convention. The age of my child/children ________________. I will use child care Friday _______ Saturday _______ Sunday _______. Comments_______________________________________________________________ ________ ________________________________________________________________________ _______ If you would like more information about child care please contact Ms. Bernadette Krajewski, 304 N. Adams St., Green Bay, WI 54301, (414) 435-6344..