[Arizona-students] Fw: Urgent Action Necessary: Send Letters to Secretary

[Arielle Silverman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AB7HW Dick Lee Chrisman" <ab7hw at cox.net>
To: "Dick Lee" <dickc at nfbarizona.com>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 7:49 PM
Subject: Urgent Action Necessary: Send Letters to Secretary


> Submitted by Ruth Swenson
>
> Home:  480-892-4344
>
> Urgent Action Necessary: Send Letters to Secretary Spellings
>
>
>
> Dear Fellow Federationists:
>
>
>
>        My thanks go out to all of you who have taken the time to write 
> your letters to Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings and send copies 
> to your
>
> Members of Congress and to me.  However, there are many who have not done 
> so yet, and I urge you to do so as soon as possible.  To show the variety 
> of
>
> good ideas members have put in their letters, and to jog your 
> imaginations, this email has some new sample letters, three real letters 
> written by three
>
> of your fellow Federationists.
>
>
>
> We are all excited about our upcoming demonstration and rally at the 
> Department of Education on May 26, but we have a lot of hard work, in 
> addition to the
>
> rally, that is essential to assure our ultimate success.  To achieve the 
> success we expect, everyone of you must continue to write letters, get 
> your friends
>
> and family to write letters and spread the word far and wide about the 
> many ways officials are minimizing the ability of people with blindness 
> and other
>
> disabilities to receive the critical services we need to become 
> independent self-sufficient citizens.  Unfortunately, many of you cannot 
> attend our rally.
>
> Your presence will be missed.  Nevertheless, by writing letters to 
> Secretary Spellings, you lend needed strength to our cause.  We are also 
> seeking lead
>
> sponsors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate for a joint 
> letter expressing concerns of Congress.  Once I have designated sponsors, 
> I will
>
> communicate this to you all in order that you can help me get more 
> Congressional support.
>
>
>
>        I have been spot-checking the letters you provided, and for the 
> most part, I am extremely pleased with their content.  However, I would 
> offer caution
>
> regarding overly charged emotion and name calling because the critical 
> message gets lost when these occur.  Although the policies that the 
> Department of
>
> Education proposes are extremely damaging, treat Secretary Spellings with 
> basic courtesy in your letters.  Remember that we are likely exposing her 
> to
>
> an issue that she knew next to nothing about, one she seldom focused upon, 
> one she did not understand.  Our goal is for her to intervene and stop 
> these
>
> dangerous proposals made by her mid-level staff.  We must succeed because 
> the consequences of failure would be extremely detrimental to blind people 
> and
>
> others with disabilities who would not receive critical services.
>
>
>
> Some of you have received responses to your letters from the Assistant 
> Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Mr. John 
> Hager, and
>
> others certainly will.  In these boilerplate, form letters, Hager 
> justifies the staff cuts because of greater technological developments 
> that make regional
>
> staff unnecessary.  Although his justification is flimsy at best and 
> entirely without merit, the fact that the department is responding 
> demonstrates that
>
> education officials are beginning to take notice.  However, much more 
> attention paired with a commitment to not follow through with proposals to 
> diminish
>
> the RSA is necessary before we consider stopping our campaign.
>
>
>
> If you have not sent your letter to Secretary Spellings, please do so as 
> soon as possible.  If you have sent one, get others to send letters. 
> Again, the
>
> email addresses for Secretary Spellings are Christina.Wilson at ed.gov and 
> Margaret.Spellings at ed.gov.  Her fax number is (202) 401-0596.  By phone 
> you can
>
> reach the office of Secretary Spellings at (202) 401-3000.  Below you will 
> find some sample letters to provide ideas.  You will see that your letter, 
> an
>
> effective letter, does not need to be long, although some I will provide 
> are more lengthy.  Thank you all for your efforts, and I look forward to 
> joining
>
> with you at the Department of Education later this month.
>
>
>
> Cordially,
>
>
>
> James McCarthy, Director of Governmental Affairs
>
> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>
> 1800 Johnson Street
>
> Baltimore, Maryland  21230
>
> Phone: (410) 659-9314, Extension 2240
>
> Email: jmccarthy at nfb.org
>
>
>
> Sample Letter 1:
>
>
>
> Ms. Margaret Spellings
>
> Washington, DC
>
>
>
> Dear Ms. Spellings:
>
>
>
> I write to you while on a coffee break which in itself is the
>
> realization of a dream.  I have been blind since birth and for
>
> most of my childhood I knew no employed blind people.  My father
>
> worked, he valued it, and he made it clear there was no room in
>
> his family for people who were lazy.  I wasn't lazy but I was
>
> blind and my fear was that if I was to find a job, it would have
>
> to be by doing what the few blind people I saw did: play music or
>
> beg.  My first tape recorder convinced me I was to enjoy but not
>
> make music, and I knew my father would never respect his oldest
>
> son looking for money on the street corner.
>
>
>
> Meeting other blind people and learning from them about
>
> rehabilitation opened doors that offered the possibility of
>
> respectability. Now I, the oldest child of a family of four children,
>
> am the most financially independent.  My father loves to tell
>
> people the story of the son for whom he feared most and who has
>
> cost him the least, and has warned me that he likes the story so
>
> much that I better not come asking for a loan.
>
>
>
> Rehabilitation gave me the equipment to be successful in high
>
> school, gave me daily living skills when I left Mom's home
>
> cooking and the laundry service I had so callously taken for
>
> granted, taught me to write my name in print so I could sign
>
> checks, gave me a monthly stipend so I had money to make those
>
> checks good, bought my books, paid my tuition, and in the end
>
> bought me a $15,000 computer terminal when I got my first job as
>
> a computer programmer.  Sure, there were problems from time to
>
> time with how fast these things were ordered and received, and I
>
> learned to be an advocate by beating on my rehabilitation
>
> counselors and their bosses, but the result was something really
>
> wonderful for all concerned: a job which pays enough that I am
>
> raising a family, donating to charities, volunteering my time for
>
> good causes, loving Fridays and dreading Mondays - I am living
>
> the American dream - no, not the rags to riches story, but the
>
> more modest and attainable dream of making a living and pulling
>
> my own weight.
>
>
>
> I believe many of the slogans we hear about doing more with less
>
> really means doing less with less.  I believe turning more
>
> responsibility over to the states means a reduced federal
>
> commitment as a country to the rehabilitation of blind people.  I
>
> believe eliminating the Office for the Blind means ignoring the
>
> very special needs of a very special group of people with
>
> disabilities, and none of this sounds like progress or an ongoing
>
> commitment to a government program which has demonstrated in my
>
> life and the life of my friends that it works.
>
>
>
> The rehabilitation system is not sacred or untouchable, but
>
> changes to it should be coordinated with the people who know most
>
> about it and have the most to lose or gain when the program is
>
> successful.  Our nation's commitment to the blind and disabled
>
> needs to be a highly visible effort: visible to the American
>
> people through outreach, and visible to the President and the
>
> Congress through their appointment of the person charged with
>
> making the dreams this program offers reality.
>
>
>
> Please retain our regional offices, and do nothing to lessen the
>
> Federal involvement and commitment to putting blind people to
>
> work and opening to others like me the fruits born of training
>
> and employment.
>
>
>
> I could say more, and later I may, but my break is nearly over
>
> and I will now get back to the job for which I have been trained.
>
> I do so with gratitude for the work and with a profound belief in
>
> the society which helped me get to where I feared I could never
>
> be.
>
>
>
> -----
>
> Sample Letter 2:
>
>
>
> Dear Secretary Spellings:
>
>
>
> We are parents of a blind son who has used rehabilitation services to 
> become a successful and contributing member of society rather than a 
> burden upon it.
>
> Because of that we request you intervene to assure that the Vocational 
> Rehabilitation Program remains the same effective program that changes the 
> lives
>
> of blind persons and others with disabilities that it has been for our 
> son.
>
>
>
> Chris entered a school for all varieties of handicapped in Kansas. Except 
> for a fantastic teacher, the school did little to prepare Chris for 
> anything except
>
> to teach him to interact with other kids with disabilities. The primary 
> reason for this was that the teacher's skills were diluted to accommodate 
> a variety
>
> of handicaps. These children learned mostly behavioral skills but very 
> little to prepare them to be productive citizens. When he reached 
> kindergarten age,
>
> we were fortunate to be assigned to Virginia. There he attended a school 
> which taught him to read and write Braille for half a school day and he 
> attended
>
>
>
> a public school kindergarten the other half. From there, he attended 
> public schools until graduation from high school. He was fifth in his 
> class. During
>
> the summers of his K-12 education, he attended a state commission for the 
> blind independent living program, a camp in Vermont to learn computer 
> skills
>
> for the blind, and received instruction for cane travel by rehabilitation 
> specialists. Because of these capabilities he was able to attend a private 
> liberal
>
> arts university as a boarding student, graduating Cum Laude. He finished 
> those studies in three-and-a-half years and during his Senior summer 
> attended
>
> the Louisiana Center for the Blind independent living skills program. That 
> experience significantly enhanced his ability to operate as a contributing 
> member
>
> of society because it was administered by rehabilitation professionals who 
> understood the problems of the blind and accepted no excuses for 
> overcoming
>
> them. Nowhere else would he have a final cooking class exam where he would 
> have to plan, shop, prepare and serve a meal for forty (40) people. He 
> then
>
> entered Law School graduating with a Juris Doctorate degree. He now lives 
> in a big city, requires no government assistance, is a taxpayer, and is a 
> successful
>
> magazine editor.
>
>
>
> Chris has become successful because we were fortunate to find rehabilitive 
> programs run by the blind for the blind. Under the President's budget 
> proposal,
>
> we understand that the Department of Education plans to cut half the RSA 
> staff and close all its regional offices. This is only a short term fix to 
> attenuate
>
> a budget deficit which will, in the long term, magnify the government 
> subsidies for the disabled, who have not been adequately trained and 
> educated to
>
> be contributing members of society. Additionally, transferring disability 
> oversight to the Department of Labor will only compound the problem. That 
> department
>
>
>
> has a poor record for providing blind persons access to its workforce 
> centers.
>
>
>
> Chris' experience with a program pertaining to a variety of handicaps and 
> then with those purely for the blind portend a greater success for the 
> latter
>
> and hence the status quo. This would be especially true for those blinded 
> later in life. They would need a dedicated and concentrated program to 
> quickly
>
> restore them to a condition whereby they can continue to meet those 
> responsibilities they have assumed, e.g. parenthood. We urge you not to 
> support a short
>
> term fix to a budget problem that would adversly affect millions of 
> disabled persons. Instead, fight hard to maintain a successful method of 
> assimilating
>
>
>
> people like our son into the mainstream of society so that they may become 
> contributors and not burdens to society. A person who can best help the 
> blind
>
> must be able to understand them.
>
>
>
> Respectfully,
>
>
>
> Now for Sample Letter 3.  This one is a bit shorter, and uses nothing from 
> the sample letters.  I think that it does a very nice job of sharing one 
> person's
>
> deep concerns about what would happen if these proposals are enacted.
>
>
>
> Dear Secretary Spellings
>
> This letter is to inform you of what problems the proposed budget cuts for 
> the RSA will cause.  My Dad had an old saying when it came to being short 
> sited
>
> about spending and saving money.  He said "It's foolish to jump over a 
> dollar to save a dime."  What he meant by that was that sometimes you can 
> save a
>
> dime immediately, but a more prudent person would invest the dollar with 
> great rewards in the future.  This exact scenario is occurring right now 
> with
>
> the proposed budget cuts with the RSA.  Perhaps, and only perhaps, you 
> might save some money by cutting the regional offices for the RSA and 
> reverting
>
> back to the old idea of block grants to the states for the RSA budgets; 
> but in the long run you will diminish services, have no one accountable 
> for these
>
> services, and in the future a whole generation of handicapped people will 
> end up receiving money from the government rather than paying taxes as 
> other
>
> citizens in our society do.
>
>
>
> I am a blind person who received very poor services from the RSA, which 
> was back in the late 1960s .  The main reason for this was the inefficient 
> way the
>
> RSA was being run with little accountability in most states in the mid 
> west. If it weren't for a blind organization with a great vision as to 
> what blind
>
> people are capable of doing and my joining their cause; I have no doubt 
> that getting a job, living independently, and paying taxes would not have 
> been
>
> achieved.  It was because of the visions of this organization that a dream 
> of having a separate Commission for the Blind became a reality.  Five 
> years
>
>
>
> ago, the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired was 
> formed and the prospect for blind people being independent, going to 
> college, becoming
>
> professionals, not just getting a menial job which would not support them, 
> and probably more important to our government, paying taxes has greatly 
> increased.
>
> This has happened because the Commission for the Blind had to be 
> accountable to the regional offices and more and more innovative ideas and 
> practices
>
> were implemented.  If we go back to the old ways with less and less 
> accountability, we will gradually go back to the "good old days" when very 
> talented
>
> and intelligent blind people will not get proper training and will end up 
> basically on welfare.  What a waste this would be for all concerned.
>
>
>
> Obviously, it does cost money to train blind people and other handicapped 
> people in independent living, educate them, and ultimately send them out 
> into
>
> the work force, but the alternative of more people drawing money from the 
> government and in deed in my thinking wasting their talents is truly a 
> foolish
>
> and short sited plan.
>
>
>
> It is my sincere hope that you don't jump over that dollar to save the 
> dime here in the present and look to the future.  Please reconsider these 
> short-sighted
>
> plans and be a person with long range ideas in how better to help all 
> handicapped people reach their potential and in doing so keep the RSA 
> functioning
>
> at a level which is progressive, not regressive.
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> <<ED action still needed 3 more ED sample letters LR1_.doc>>
>
>
>