WHEREAS, Blind persons who are deprived of adequate rehabilitation and training are also denied the opportunity to become productive citizens and taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (BISM) was established to provide training and employment opportunities for blind persons in Maryland; and
WHEREAS, under the current administration, both rehabilitation training, and job placement services have been eliminated--thus, the term "Services" should be dropped from BISM's title, because no services are provided; and
WHEREAS, neither the Maryland Rehabilitation Center nor the Maryland School for the Blind, or any other entity in Maryland provide adequate rehabilitation training--thus nullifying the argument that BISM's training program was a costly duplication of service; and
WHEREAS, the Maryland General Assembly and the Governor of our state have already determined that BISM has a responsibility to provide training and rehabilitation services to the blind and has shown their determination by providing over one million dollars per year in state funds so that BISM can give services to the blind of Maryland; and
WHEREAS, without approval of the General Assembly or the Governor, and without any notice to or consultation with the blind of our state, Frederick Dewberry, (president of BISM) and the BISM Board of Trustees have terminated BISM's training program even though the appropriated funds from the state were paid to BISM with the expectation that the blind would be served throughout the current fiscal year; and
WHEREAS, in the absence of a training program for the blind of Maryland, Frederick Dewberry has apparently commenced a private interagency review of BISM's role in training, deliberately excluding the blind users of this service and only including so-called professional experts in blindness from various state agencies involved; and
WHEREAS, the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland, possessing the highest level of expertise in rehabilitation, has not been invited to participate in this review:
Now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this third day of October, 1987, in the City of Frostburg, Maryland, that this organization condemns the current BISM administration's callous lack of concern for the welfare of blind persons, as demonstrated by the elimination of the training division; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urges BISM to restore the training division to its previous level of operation while the review is conducted; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization calls on both president Dewberry and the Board of Trustees to work in partnership with the true experts in rehabilitation--the blind consumers of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland.