[Trainer-Talk] AT Trainers in Maryland Need Your Support

Thu Jul 3 20:39:26 UTC 2025

Hello everyone, I have some good news to report.
since Chris raised this issue with me a couple of weeks ago, I have been working my contacts at the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) first to establish the rationale behind what was announced, and second to see if we could get any kind of reversal or reprieve.
The director of the Maryland Accessible Telecommunications Program has sent out a message which I am pasting below. This is a good outcome which buys us more time for advocacy and to ensure we are consulted about the future of the program and the manner in which is it delivered. Here is David's message.
Good afternoon.

I'm writing to clarify the email we sent out on June 21 with the subject "End of Talk Text and Train services."  We regret the confusion we created by giving the impression that TAM's Talk, Text, Train Program (TTT) is coming to an end.  Our intent was to describe proposed changes in how TTT would be administered in an effort to manage the program’s limited resources to effectively serve Marylanders using the service. 

First and foremost, we would like to assure all involved that TAM has no intention of ending training services. We also received feedback expressing concern
over the lack of existing sources for training of this type in the state and that switching away from independent contractors with lived experience will
leave us unable to meet the current training needs, especially among newly-blind customers. We will continue to utilize independent contractors to provide
low vision and blind customers with one-on-one training assistance for a minimum of six months.  During this time, we will examine ways to scale our delivery
of this service consistent with our existing resources in a sustainable manner, ensuring every customer receives an appropriate amount of training within
our budgetary limits.  

To that end, we are taking the following actions - 

1) Voucher Program - Currently TAM staff spend a large portion of their time focused on administrative tasks including selecting and purchasing equipment
which takes them away from their intended role of teaching telecommunications accessibility to Marylanders across all disabilities. This coming January
we will launch a voucher program enabling customers to choose and buy their own equipment which will lift the administrative burden currently being placed on staff.  Vouchers will fit in into a broader mix of options for customers and will not replace personal instruction;

2) Part-Time Assistive Tech Trainer - TAM is adding an additional part-time staff member this month to increase our in-house expertise and help us provide
a more consistent training schedule and standard curriculum.  We will closely track how wait-times, training quality and capacity are impacted with the addition of this new position in order to further inform our effort to scale the program so we can resume offering group TTT training sessions across the
state for customers, potential trainers and partner organizations;

3) Community Access Grants - TAM is offering, for the first time, Community Access Grants to help local groups grow their own training programs. An inaugural pilot program grant was recently awarded to the IMAGE Center of Maryland to launch a Talk, Text, and Train style initiative which we will monitor and expand upon in the hope of fostering an even wider range of training options and choices for telecom access. Our goal is to deepen  the amount of training options available to our customers and not have to rely solely on TAM's resources which are limited; and

4) One-On-One Sessions with Independent Contractors - As previously mentioned, TAM will continue to fund this service for a minimum of the next six months under the two-session cap to allow us more time to assess the most effective and efficient methods for  providing our blind and low vision customers with the training they need to meet their telecommunication goals.  During the six-month review period, TAM will study the most sustainable combination of training resources including utilizing independent contractors.  We will ensure that there is adequate lead time between the communication and effective dates of any future changes that result from our observations over the next six months. 

We hope that this message will eliminate any of the confusion that was unintentionally created by our email of June 21. Please reach out to me at 
david.bahar at maryland.gov
 if you have any questions and concerns regarding the changes described above.

Thank you once again for your dedication and service to our program participants.

Best regards,

David Bahar
Director, Telecommunications Access of Maryland

Jonathan Mosen
Executive Director for Accessibility Excellence
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
410-659-9314, extension 2233 | jmosen at nfb.org

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

-----Original Message-----
From: Trainer-Talk <trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Christopher Nusbaum via Trainer-Talk
Sent: Friday, 27 June 2025 4:48 pm
To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology <trainer-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Christopher Nusbaum <cnusbaum at imagemd.org>; Chris Nusbaum <canaccesssolutions at gmail.com>
Subject: [Trainer-Talk] AT Trainers in Maryland Need Your Support

Hello Fellow Trainers:

With the permission of division president Brett Boyer, I'm writing to bring to your attention a problem we're dealing with here in Maryland on which we could use the support and advice of AT trainers across the country. The Maryland Department of Disabilities operates a program called Maryland Accessible Telecommunications (MAT), which loans accessible devices to blind, deaf-blind, and deaf or hard-of-hearing clients throughout the state. Until now, each client who received a device from MAT also received training on the use of that device. Last week the independent contractors who had been working with this program were suddenly notified that the parent agency, Technology Access of Maryland, was ending its use of independent trainers in favor of a single part-time employee with the responsibility of serving the entire state. These contracts are to end July 1, leaving no time for trainers currently working with clients to finish their work, and resulting in new trainers like myself being unable to start working with clients who were promised services, many of whom have already been waiting for months if not years.

As trainers, we know the importance of consistent sessions and a long-term working relationship if skills are to be retained and improved. However, this decision has left clients and trainers in limbo until further notice. So, I'm asking any trainers who have expertise to share on this to contact the leaders of this program and urge them to resume the use of independent blind AT trainers for their clients. If you have worked with seniors and/or newly-blind people, your voice would be particularly valuable, as this is a large portion of their clientele. If you want to contact the relevant administrators, please email David Behar, executive director of Technology Access of Maryland, at David.behar at maryland.gov<mailto:David.behar at maryland.gov>; Kevin Steffy, program manager of Maryland Accessible Telecommunications, at kevin.steffy at maryland.gov<mailto:kevin.steffy at maryland.gov>; and Carol Beatty, secretary of the Maryland Department of Disabilities, at carol.beatty at maryland.gov<mailto:carol.beatty at maryland.gov>. If you would like to copy me, the best email address to do so would be the one for my training business: canaccesssolutions at gmail.com<mailto:canaccesssolutions at gmail.com>.

As background material, I've pasted below the email sent to trainers notifying them of the end of the training program, followed by my letter to Kevin Steffy and David Behar. Thank you in advance for your support and sharing your expertise with Maryland's government.

Warmly,

Chris

Hello, All
MAT/TAM administrators have decided to end independent contracting to provide low vision and blind customers of MAT devices with 1-1 training assistance to learn accessibility for telecommunication and assistive technology as of July 1, 2025.

The MAT/TAM administrators are hiring a part-time trainer who will provide limited support in a modified setting to low vision and MAT customers for telecommunication instruction only. I have not been informed when this person will begin however I am told that all current services by independent contractors should end by July 1. Please submit your invoices as soon as possible following the end of services.

If your current customers have not achieved the goal of being able to make and receive a phone call, text, video call or email - as appropriate to their individual telecommunication goals, please send me their name and once the new trainer is secured, they will be contacted to complete services.

If you have any questions regarding invoicing, please reach out to Robert Foster at TAM.invoices at maryland.gov<mailto:TAM.invoices at maryland.gov>.

If you have any comments, concerns or questions involving the end of Talk, Text and Train independent contracting, please contact TAM executive director, David Bahar at david.bahar at maryland.gov<mailto:david.bahar at maryland.gov> or MAT manager, Kevin Steffy at kevin.steffy at maryland.gov<mailto:kevin.steffy at maryland.gov>.

I will be in contact with each of you individually about MAT device kits assigned to you in 2023.

Our transition to a voucher program from the current model of a loaner service is being delayed until further notice.

The Maryland low vision and blind community has been so fortunate to have benefitted from the excellent training each of you provided. Your knowledge, compassion, patience and dedication to the people you have served and the MAT program is truly a gift.

Jane

[Changing Maryland for the Better]

Jane Hager

MAT Specialist

Maryland Accessible Telecommunications (MAT)

Telecommunications Access of Maryland (TAM)

Department of Disabilities

301 W. Preston St. 1008A

Baltimore, MD 21201

jane.hager at maryland.gov<mailto:kevin.steffyl at maryland.gov>

301-974-1946 (Mobile)

410-801-9618 (VP)

https://doit.maryland.gov/mdrelay/pages/Equipment.aspx| http://facebook.com/MarylandRelay711<http://facebook.com/MarylandRelay711>

http://twitter.com/MDRelay711<http://twitter.com/MDRelay711> @MDRelay

General Inquires: moreinfo at mdrelay.org<mailto:moreinfo at mdrelay.org>

Dear Mr. Bahar and Mr. Steffy:

I write to express my grave concern over TAM's decision, announced to trainers on Saturday, June 21 without any prior warning to them or the consumers they serve, to end the use of independent contractors for the assistive technology training of blind and low-vision users of MAT's services, effective July 1. According to the notice provided to trainers, the present contractors, most of whom are blind themselves, will be replaced by a single part-time employee who will be responsible for AT training throughout the state. However, there is no clear indication as to when this employee will begin his/her work, nor is there a plan in place for the provision of services to those who are receiving them or were expecting to receive them in the interim. Assuming that this description of the situation is accurate, it gives me cause for grave concern, from both a personal and professional perspective. I am a trainer who was recently contracted to provide services to MAT clients, and this decision was made before I could even begin my first session with my first trainee, despite the fact that the trainee and I had already had a lengthy phone conversation in which we discussed our work together, her goals, and her present skill level. So, naturally, this affects me professionally, as well as many of my training colleagues. However, my concern goes deeper than that, because I am a blind person who grew up in Maryland and has lived here for much of my life. Though I have been totally blind since birth and therefore received much of my AT training through the public schools, I am active in the local and national blind community, and I am deeply aware of the problems faced by people who are losing their vision and who have limited resources and access to quality services. Like the client I was to teach, they are grappling with the emotional toll of their adjustment to blindness, while trying to find anyone and anything that will show them how they can live a full life again. Now, just as they were starting to gain momentum toward that goal, that momentum has been suddenly and arbitrarily stopped in the name of "efficiency," despite their trainers' readiness to continue the work we have started with them. My greater concern, then, is for the blind people who were once so ably served by the MAT training program.

At the outset, I believe a common misunderstanding should be cleared up concerning the training of blind/low-vision individuals. In the education sector, blindness is referred to as a "low-incidence disability," meaning that it is relatively uncommon compared to other disabilities served by special education programs, rehabilitation services, and assistive technology distributors such as MAT. Therefore, the training of a blind/low-vision AT recipient requires a specialized trainer with knowledge of the specialized technology. Moreover, training for blind people is not quite as simple as one evaluation to determine the best device for the individual, then another session or two to quickly show the person the basics of the device. Primarily, this is because AT for blind people either changes the way in which a mainstream device is used, e.g. a screen reader requires a computer to be operated using keystrokes rather than the mouse or a smartphone using gestures that are different from those used by non-screen reader users, or operate using a completely unique interface and software, e.g. a Braille display's only "screen" is its Braille display, and most Braille displays use a Perkins-style Braille keyboard rather than a standard QWERTY keyboard. Therefore, training for these devices and the individuals who use them requires a longer-term teacher-to-student relationship over a period of time, even to complete the limited scope of goals provided for under the MAT framework. Using one part-time employee, no matter how good a trainer that employee may be, would immediately put both the employee and the client at a disadvantage because such a model would not give the trainer and the client the time required to build the necessary rapport. Furthermore, there is a real possibility that such a model would result in a client who is making progress at a slower-than-desired speed to be rushed through the process before they can truly build the skills for which their training was meant. It is for precisely this reason that our Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) has multiple offices throughout the state, and the home teachers they hire (both DORS staff and outside contractors) are assigned a unique service area to focus on.

I am also concerned about how this model would impact blind people who live in areas of the state where blindness-related services are not concentrated. Taking my own area as an example, I live in Carroll County, an area where public transportation is hard to come by and local blindness-related services are not present. For this reason, our local chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland has taken over some services (including assistive technology training) for our members on a volunteer basis as needed, and I can provide training through my business, though the recipient will now be required to pay out of pocket for it. One of the things I was most excited about when I agreed to train for MAT was the ability to serve clients in this area, who did not previously have a local trainer; indeed, it was the primary reason I took the offer. Now, however, our Carroll County residents are back where they started from. It is true that there are far more blind people in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and the counties around Washington. But what of Carroll County? What of Western Maryland? What of the Eastern Shore, where I also lived for nearly 2 years and whose blind community was more underserved than ours? All of these places have blind people too, and MAT now expects a single part-time employee, presumably based in Baltimore, to cover them all-not to mention the more populous urban areas previously mentioned. Surely you would agree with me from a purely logical standpoint that this is not fair to the employee or to the clients, nor is it a reasonable expectation. Why disserve clients in already underserved areas when you already have a talented and experienced pool of trainers willing to work, many of whom you have worked with in the past?

Finally, I have a few practical questions about this plan. Perhaps, even if it does not change, these can be considered and answered for the benefit of all. Here they are:

  1.  Whose responsibility will it be to inform current and prospective trainees of this decision?
  2.  What are MAT clients who have already received devices expected to do with those devices while they wait for further training?
  3.  What logistical support, if any, will be provided to the new employee to provide services to areas of the state such as Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore where public transportation is not readily available?
  4.  Is MAT/TAM willing to commit to hiring a blind employee to provide training services, as it has with its contractors?
  5.  Is MAT willing to consult with the local blind community on its service delivery to blind people?
  6.  Finally, in the event that a client feels they need additional training to supplement that provided by the MAT employee, is MAT/TAM willing to provide financial support for such training, provide that the device the client is being trained on has been loaned to the client by MAT?

I would prefer to close on a positive note, which is to thank you for your decision to hire mostly blind and low-vision AT trainers for this program up to this point. Much of my work is done with students in public schools, and unfortunately I find too often that most if not all of the staff working with my students are sighted people who have no lived experience with blindness skills, Braille, or assistive technology. While there is certainly knowledge in professional expertise, nothing in this field can replace living life as a blind person day-to-day. So, as a trainer who is also blind and who cares about the employment and success of blind people, thank you for that commitment.

I hope you will consider my concerns and comments and that they will help you understand why your choice in this matter is affecting more than trainers like me. If you reconsider your decision (and I very much hope you do), it will be an honor to work with MAT again. If you do not, I hope at least that my comments will serve to make your program better for blind people, including the employee you hire. Thank you for your consideration of these thoughts and for the opportunity to work with your program, brief though it was. I would be glad to discuss this further with you if you so choose.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher A. Nusbaum, B.A., JAWS Certified Independent Assistive Technology Trainer for Blind and Low-vision Students CAN Access Solutions, LLC Assistive Technology Specialist (Independent Contractor), Allied Instructional Services<http://www.alliedinstructional.com>
Independent Living Specialist, The IMAGE Center for People with Disabilities<http://www.imagemd.org>
Assistive Technology Trainer, Maryland Accessible Telecommunications<https://mdod.maryland.gov/tam/Pages/mat.aspx>
Direct: (443) 487-6262
Email: canaccesssolutions at gmail.com<mailto:canaccesssolutions at gmail.com>
Schedule a meeting with me<https://calendly.com/canaccesssolutions>

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -Maimonides

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