On May 26, 2005, the National Federation of the Blind hheld a ralley near the Department of Education building to protest the "consolladation" of rehabilitation services and the Rehabilitation Services Administration. There is an effort by the Department of Education (DOE) to dismantle the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and consolladate many of the rehabilitation services that disabled people have come to know and expect from their local and state rehabilitation agencies.
To put it in plain English: think about the training that you got to learn how to live as a blind person; think of the on the job training you might have received from the agency; or, think of the assistive technology or the wheelchair that your rehabilitation caseworker helped you get, and which has increased your independence.
If these mean anything to you, then please consider contacting your senator and other people at the DOE and letting them know what this might mean for you and future people with disabilities. This issue doesn't just affect the blind, but all people with disabilities. The NFB's News Page has all the information you will need. The relevant news will be in the first heading section, a little bit down the page. Please contact your senators by phone or email and let them know how this will affect you or people you know. The NFB page will give you all the necessary language, such as bill name and number assignments, so you can communicate them to the people you contact.
If you need proof of what rheabilitation can do for someone with a disability, then: visit a federal building and its associated cafeteria. See that blind man or woman at the cash register? Its because of the RSA and rehabilitation that that blind person even could get that job. Or, consider the high school student who might be in a wheelchair, but who graduated at the top of their class.
Don't wait; do this ASAP!
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