OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma state agency is suing the federal government in an attempt to block a local military base from ending its contract with a vendor who employs blind workers.
The Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services filed the lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday. That agency is tasked with expanding independence and economic self-sufficiency for disabled Oklahomans. The lawsuit is against the United States of America, by and through Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of the Army Mark Esper.
The complaint requests a restraining order and injunctive relief to block Fort Sill, the Army post in Lawton, from ending its contract with a cafeteria services vendor.
The argument hinges on the Randolph-Sheppard Vending Facility Act. The law was passed in the 1930s and gives priority to blind vendors, who are licensed as so through the state, when choosing vendors operating on federal property, such as military installations.
The current vendor, David Altstatt, is the Department of Rehabilitation Services-appointed blind vendor for the Army post. The current contract includes one base year and four option years, and Altstatt’s company is in the second option year, according to the lawsuit. In February, the defendants notified rehabilitation services officials that they intended to terminate the contract. The department argues that the defendants didn’t give proper notification to the U.S. secretary of education, who oversees the program. The Oklahoma rehabilitation department requested arbitration with that secretary and defendants in April, according to the lawsuit. In August, the defendants issued a solicitation for a replacement vendor. That solicitation is what the lawsuit attempts to block.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – The Department of Rehabilitation Services has transferred 3,424 job seekers with significant disabilities from waiting lists to active caseloads since January 1.
DRS’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Visual Services staff began providing career planning and employments services to 505 new clients in the most recent group moved from waiting lists on November 7.
In 2017, VR and VS staff helped 2,014 clients successfully prepare for and find employment and served 11,765 Oklahomans with disabilities working towards that goal. The new taxpayers earned an average of $22,212 per year and paid $3,332 in average taxes, while reducing or eliminating dependence on disability benefits and government services.
DRS’ waiting lists have been in place since March 13, 2017, due to prior year revenue reductions.
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Sara Novic is a Deaf writer and assistant professor of creative writing at Stockton University. Her first novel, "Girl at War," was released by Random House in 2015. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. The Deaf community uses a capital "D" to differentiate between people who identify with Deaf culture and identity, and the physical lack of hearing. The views expressed in this commentary are solely hers. View more opinion articles on CNN.
On September 14 the Texas State Board of Education made a series of key votes that could transform the way students learn to understand the world around them -- and themselves. Texas wants to remove some content from the social studies curriculum, said board chairperson Donna Bahorich, so that teachers can delve more deeply into certain topics.
Sara Novic
Billed as an effort to "streamline" the curriculum, the move spared Baptist pastor Billy Graham, the impeachment trial of former President Clinton and Moses from the chopping block -- while Hilary Clinton, Barry Goldwater, Thomas Hobbes and Helen Keller were eliminated.
Perhaps the most overtly dogmatic cut was the deletion of the phrase, "such as holding public officials to their word" from a fourth-grade unit on how to participate in civic affairs. But the erasure of Helen Keller, an iconic advocate for the deaf and blind whose social activism also included women's suffrage, birth control and pacifism -- who is currently taught as part of a third-grade unit on citizenship -- is an underhanded play with a troubling message: that homogeny is normal and exposure to outside perspectives should be limited.
To remove Keller from the curriculum also means to eliminate the single touchstone for deafness and disability for most mainstream students. Earlier this week, I asked a room of 35 of my own college students if they'd ever met a deaf person who wasn't me. Four or five raised their hands—they worked retail and had seen deaf customers. Many of these students are considering fields like social work, education, criminal justice, occupational and speech therapy and law, where knowledge of deafness and disability will be integral to their work, and still their exposure is extremely limited long past the third grade. This is the norm in a society that constantly tells us to avert our eyes from disabled people, to separate out "normal" and "other."
Read more of original article here.
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ADA, Okla. – Donald Gore only missed six days in the fourteen years he worked at Folger’s Drive-In in Ada.
“I like to work and be on time,” Gore said. “It’s no fun to stay around the house and be bored.”
Problems with increasing vision and hearing loss led Gore to seek help from Roy Alexander, a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the Chickasaw Nation.
Gore, who has Usher Syndrome, is a member of the Chickasaw Nation.
The genetic condition combines hearing loss with retinitis pigmentosa, resulting in progressive loss of side vision due to degeneration of the retina.
Usher syndrome is the most common condition that affects both hearing and vision loss.
Alexander introduced Gore to Gayle Lee, a vocational rehabilitation counselor for Visual Services, which is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services.
Alexander and Lee turned to a team of Visual Services experts to help Gore learn new skills and use technology to re-enter the workforce.
Lee contacted Visual Services’ specialists on deaf-blindness Jeri Cooper and Stephanie Butler. Cooper, a rehabilitation teacher who is deaf-blind herself, travels the state to help clients with vision and hearing loss. Stephanie Butler became Gore’s new vocational rehabilitation counselor due to her expertise in deaf-blindness.
Liz Scheffe helped him improve orientation and mobility skills so he could travel safely and efficiently in the community.
Sharon Shipe provided more rehabilitation teaching training to help Gore adjust to loss of vision and develop practical skills.
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With the help of a Teaching Tolerance Educator Grant, this teacher created a space where DeafBlind students could be themselves and teach the larger school community about DeafBlindness.
Wendy Harris wanted to start a DeafBlind club at her school.
An educator for the deaf and blind, Harris noticed that her DeafBlind students at the Metro Deaf School in St. Paul, Minnesota—one of the top schools for the deaf in the United States—were missing out on some key academic and social experiences. The club, she imagined, could fill those gaps and also raise the overall cultural competency of the school.
Read the original article here.
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Top three reasons why you should hire deaf employees
Thousands of highly educated and qualified deaf and hard of hearing individuals are continually looking for jobs, but because of the prejudice among most of the employers out there, their applications are ignored most of the time or their interviews are withdrawn upon learning about their hearing loss. In this situation, the employers, as well as the deaf and hard of hearing candidates, lose out on an excellent opportunity to help each other become better.
There are three top reasons why organizations should hire deaf and hard of hearing employees:
1. Deaf and hard of hearing people spend almost all their lives trying to adapt to their environment as best they can, and that ability help to augment their hearing loss which often make them determined and flexible when faced with various challenges. Their out-of-the-box creativity and problem-solving skills can bring unique solutions to the organizations.
2. Hiring deaf and hard of hearing employees can bring to your team a whole new perspective in serving others. And, if your organization happens to serve a lot of deaf consumers, having reliable employees who are responsible and hardworking can be a fantastic addition to your business.
3. Deaf and hard of hearing employees can be an excellent addition to your company as a part of the diverse workforce that you may want for your business which also provides the opportunity to enrich the culture of your business.
Read more at original article here.
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Oklahoma ABLE Tech and its statewide partners operate an assistive technology (AT) device demonstration center and short-term loan program to increase access to and utilization of AT for individuals with disabilities. The program is available to Oklahoma residents with disabilities, their family members, and the professionals that support them.
Demonstrations give individuals the ability to see, touch, and try AT to help them in the decision-making process by providing:
Hands-on exploration of devices
Information on the latest technology
Low-tech solutions and adaptations
Vendor sources
The short-term loan program provides individuals the opportunity to borrow AT to:
Make an informed decision before purchase
Ensure compatibility between the device and user
Have back-up equipment while waiting for repair
Have a device while waiting for new equipment
The equipment inventory offers a wide range of AT, including devices and equipment for: speech communication, computer access, hearing, vision, daily living, environmental adaptations, learning/development, recreation, mobility, seating and positioning. ABLE Tech staff also provides guidance on funding resources for AT equipment.
Read MoreHB-1244 is moving. The bill, known as the Jeri Cooper Act, is scheduled for a Senate floor vote on Monday, April 23rd. On Monday, the Senate meets at 1:30 p.m. It is expected Senator Griffin, the Senate author, will move to restore the bill’s title, which was stricken in committee. This move means the bill will be in exactly the same form as the House-passed version, so that if approved by the Senate, the bill can go directly to the Governor for signing. A PDF copy of the bill is attached.
Remember you can watch/listen to the Senate floor activity by going to www.oksenate.gov and selecting the link for Live Floor Proceedings.
Also be aware that legislative agendas are subject to change. If for some reason HB-1244 is not voted on Monday, it could come up later in the week.
We expect state agency funding bills to be introduced this coming week, so legislative attention will shortly be focused on budget for all agencies besides Education. Soon after the agency appropriations have been cleared, legislators will hope to adjourn.
Rebecca Alexander was just 12 years old when she was told that she'd completely lose her vision by the time she was an adult. After she had trouble seeing the chalkboard in class, her parents decided to take her in for a series of tests. She was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes vision impairment.
She continued on, not understanding the magnitude of what it would mean to lose her eyesight by the age of 30. "It's nearly impossible for a 12-year-old who can pretty much see to understand, let alone try to comprehend what it would mean to be losing my vision," Alexander said on Megyn Kelly TODAY while promoting her new book, Not Fade Away.
Read more at the article here.
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