Requesting your assistance
Dear Friend,
You are receiving this email because you are a graduate of Louisiana Tech
University, hold NBPCB certification, or have benefited from our work in
some way.
You may know that our operating budget comes through the Louisiana Center
for the Blind and is a direct appropriation from the Louisiana State
legislature. Many times since we began the PDRIB, there has been threats of
the state reducing or eliminating our funding, principally because they
don't understand blindness and look to cut costs wherever possible. To date,
we have always been successful in educating the legislature as to the
importance of our work and how our services are vital. Without exception,
they have agreed and our funding has continued.
This year; however, presents a unique challenge with the COVID pandemic.
First, funds for the next fiscal year look to be in dyer straights across
the board and the legislature will be looking to cut wherever possible.
Second, due to the stay-at home orders it is difficult for us to travel to
the capital in person to make our case.
I am asking you if you would be willing to write a short letter expressing
the value and critical importance of the work that we do. Public comment on
this legislation is due by May 10 and may be submitted via email. Following
is the relevant information, along with some facts and figures regarding the
work of the PDRIB. I hope you can help us fight this fight and I appreciate
you in advance.
See below, but you can send comments to: andressk at legis.la.gov
*******
Bill # HB 1005
Persons who do not feel comfortable giving testimony in person at this time
may submit a prepared statement in accordance with House Rule 14.33 in lieu
of appearing before the committee:
NOTE: Only statements mailed to
andressk at legis.la.gov
and received prior to noon on Sunday, May 10th, will be included in the
record for this committee meeting. All persons desiring to participate in
the meeting shall utilize appropriate protective health measures and observe
the recommended and appropriate social distancing.
****
Louisiana Center for the Blind Appropriation
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
The Louisiana Center for the Blind has been a grateful recipient of the
Blind Rehabilitation appropriation from the State Treasury for the last 19
years. Over that time, the funds have been exclusively used to support our
programs at Louisiana Tech University (LTU). In particular, the Professional
Development and Research Institute on Blindness (PDRIB), whose job it is to
prepare professionals to work with the blind and to conduct meaningful
research to better understand how to educate and rehabilitate individuals
who are blind or losing their sight. It should be noted, that PDRIB operates
the only professional preparation program in the state.
Because of the low-incidence nature of blindness and visual impairment and
the workload involved in preparing professionals, Universities do not
generally include funding in their budgets for these types of professional
preparation programs. We, as all other programs nationwide, must depend on
appropriation from the state legislature or other grant-based funds. Without
these funds there will be no resource to train professionals to work with
blind children for almost a 500-mile radius around Ruston.
Orientation and Mobility (O&M). LTU is the only program in the country that
actively recruits minorities, including blind individuals to earn a Master's
degree with Certification in O&M. This is the skill of safely navigating
through the environment with the use of a long white cane. We are frequently
contacted by others, both throughout the United States and abroad, because
of our tremendous success in the use of Structured Discovery Cane Travel R
methods. No other university programs have the experience or knowhow to
train their students using this highly effective and innovative system.
Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind (RTB). In 2014, LTU founded the first
of its kind Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind cognate within the Master
of Arts in Counseling and Guidance. This program also uses the tenants of
Structured Discovery teaching. Because of this innovation, the U.S.
Department of Education awarded LTU with a five-year grant to provide
scholarships for students entering into the RTB and O&M programs. This
provides considerable support for prospective students; however, it does not
provide the core funding necessary to support faculty, facilities, and
instructional materials. To date, all graduates have had multiple job
offers and there remains a great demand for these trained professionals.
Teaching Blind Students (TBS). Our TBS program trains teachers and
paraprofessionals to work with blind and low vision children in the state's
public schools and the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired (LSVI).
These professionals teach young children to read braille and other
necessary skills to be able to compete academically and prepare them for
their futures. There is currently a dire and persistent need for trained
professionals to work in many of our Parishes.
Unified English Braille (UEB). The entire country has switched its braille
code over to Unified English Braille in January of 2016. PDRIB is the only
academic resource in the state to provide professional development to
current and future teachers to ensure that their skills are updated and can
meet the needs of their students. This not only impacts teachers of blind
children in local schools and the Louisiana School for the Visually
Impaired, but also the State Department of Education, and all adult
rehabilitation training programs.
Outreach. Given the extreme shortage of trained teachers and cane travel
instructors, the PDRIB also conducts outreach services to provide stop-gap
services for blind children in Northern Louisiana. We routinely travel
across parishes providing direct service, conducting assessments, and
supporting the few teachers working in rural areas. Without this support,
more than a dozen children in Northern LA would be without some level of
needed services.
Research. In order to expand this knowledge and to better equip teachers
with relevant skills, the PDRIB conducts original research to deepen and
broaden our understanding of blindness and strategies to better educate and
rehabilitate individuals who are blind. These data are published in peer
reviewed journals, are the substance of Continuing Education and outreach
training, and have established LTU as a national leader in education and
rehabilitation research. In addition, our research has led to the
development of a variety of assessments, including reading and O&M, that
have been adopted throughout the country.
Technical Assistance. Countless parents, professionals, and consumers
statewide and nationally depend on the PDRIB for technical assistance in the
education or rehabilitation of their loved ones. In addition, PDRIB also
assists LTU in understanding accessibility and remaining compliant with ADA
Standards.
Without continued financial support, PDRIB cannot exist to provide these
vital services and training. We know that without proper literacy skills and
blindness training, individuals who have significant sight loss cannot fully
participate in their education or in their communities and they are
relegated to living lives of poverty and hopelessness.
Edward C. Bell, Ph.D., CRC, NOMC, Director,
Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness
Louisiana Tech University
600 Mayfield Ave / 210 Woodard Hall
PO Box 3158
Ruston LA 71272
Office: 318.257.4554 Fax: 318.257.2259
ebell at latech.edu www.pdrib.com
*************
"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's
brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and
died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
-- Stephen Jay Gould
