Feet on the Street to Save
Rehab
by Barbara Pierce
In recent months
Department of Education (DOE) officials have signaled more and
more clearly that the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
was in the crosshairs as they made plans to divert funding from rehabilitation
to other DOE programs. Throughout the spring we have reported on
initiatives being planned that will undermine whatever positive
steps RSA has made in recent years. During the months since RSA Commissioner
Joanne Wilson resigned in protest, the disability community has
debated what actions it should take to bring this crisis to the notice
of Congress and the public...Hundreds of people had arrived on Capitol
Hill to talk with members of Congress and their staffs about the
emergency. Here is one of the documents that the National Federation
of the Blind (NFB) members circulated:
Statement of Support
for Vocational Rehabilitation: DON’T
LEAVE BLIND ADULTS BEHIND
Background
The program known
as “Vocational Rehabilitation,” authorized
in Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as last amended in
1998, provide almost 80% of the funds used by states to pay for training
and adjustment services provided to persons with disabilities. These
services are essential for blind people and others with disabilities
to achieve productive employment and self-support goals and are planned
to meet individual needs. This is why vocational rehabilitation has
enjoyed consistently strong bipartisan support in Congress throughout
its eighty-five-year history.
The federal funds are paid to states through formula grants as long
as certain requirements are met. Having a specific agency with full-time
personnel dedicated to delivering vocational rehabilitation services
is one of the most essential federal requirements, except states
may have two such agencies if one of them is devoted to serving the
blind. States receive technical assistance and monitoring through
the (RSA), located in the U.S. Department of Education.
The Problem
Without announcing
a plan to redesign the vocational rehabilitation program, the Bush
administration has initiated several actions to reduce emphasis
on specialized services for the blind and others with disabilities.
These include:
• Seeking Congressional authorization for states to consolidate
vocational rehabilitation with job training and employment programs
for youth, dislocated workers, and other unemployed adults under
a proposal known as the “Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Plus
Consolidation;”
• Closing all of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)
regional offices used to monitor and assist states with implementation
of Rehabilitation Act programs;
• Reducing the RSA professional and support staff by approximately
50%, with a disproportionate impact on jobs held by disabled employees;
• Possible elimination of the RSA Division for the Blind and Visually
Impaired, which supports nationwide implementation of the Randolph-Sheppard
Act, provides essential guidance to states for specialized services
to working-age blind adults, and coordinates independent living services
for seniors losing sight; and,
• Changing the head of RSA from a presidentially-appointed position
requiring Senate confirmation to a Department of Education staff position
not appointed by the president and not subject to Senate confirmation.
Actions Requested
All members
of Congress are urged to express a strong commitment to effective
vocational rehabilitation programs by taking the following actions:
• Advise the chairmen and ranking minority members of the authorizing
and appropriations committees that the administration’s vocational
rehabilitation initiatives are unacceptable;
• Send or sign on to a letter access@accesspress.org to Secretary
of Education Margaret Spellings supporting vocational rehabilitation
as an identifiable, state-administered program with continued strong
federal leadership.
