WHEREAS, the purpose of Vocational Rehabilitation is to assist persons with disabilities to become employed tax -paying citizens; and
WHEREAS, if Vocational Rehabilitation clients are to attain their employment goals, the client and counselor must plan in advance, as a part of the Individualized plan for Employment (IPE), to assure orderly and timely delivery of services that are needed to reach the employment goal expressed in the IPE; and
WHEREAS, clients in adjustment to blindness orientation centers or those leaving high school are developing skills in Braille, the use of computers and other techniques which frequently require specialized equipment; and
WHEREAS, evaluating clients’ needs by the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) and procuring this specialized equipment can take several months; and
WHEREAS, after training has been completed, maintaining the acquired skills while simultaneously conducting an aggressive job search or pursuing other IPE activities is critical to clients' ultimate success; and
WHEREAS, timely delivery of the needed equipment is also critical for maintenance of skills clients have recently acquired; and
WHEREAS, while there have been improvements in the timely delivery of equipment for clients who are transitioning from high school to college, there are still long unnecessary delays in purchasing equipment for clients as they are leaving orientation centers; and
WHEREAS, it is pennywise and pound foolish for DORS to spend money sending clients to orientation centers only to have them graduate from those centers without essential equipment to maintain their skills, resulting in a loss of momentum they have already acquired to take the next steps toward their employment goals; and
WHEREAS, a better approach would be to buy the equipment before clients graduate so there is no break in skills development, which would also provide clients extra time to gain additional proficiency in those skills:
Now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this twenty fourth day of October, 2010, in the city of Annapolis, Maryland, that this organization urge DORS to schedule technology evaluations and the purchase of necessary equipment at least 120 days prior to the clients' expected graduation from high schools, colleges or adjustment to blindness training centers.