Requesting your assistance at PDRIB

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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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 <mailto:ebell at latech.edu> 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
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ebell@pdrib.com