08 State Convention Resolustions

Regarding the California Department of Rehabilitation Purchasing Assistive Technology for Blind Clients’ Employment Related Use

WHEREAS, at the outset of employment and on an as-needed basis, blind people may require certain assistive technology to allow them to compete equally with their sighted peers in the workforce; and

WHEREAS, the blind across the state have experienced attempts by the California Department of Rehabilitation to pawn their responsibilities off on others by demanding that employers who hire their clients purchase the assistive technology those clients require before the state vocational rehabilitation agencies will consider purchasing the needed accommodations themselves; and

WHEREAS, the California Department of Rehabilitation often justifies this practice by stating that they do not want to supplant employers’ distinct responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and

WHEREAS, this practice by the California Department of Rehabilitation places blind vocational rehabilitation clients’ employment in jeopardy since it results in delay in acquiring needed assistive technology and causes tension in, and even an adversarial beginning to, the employment relationship; and

WHEREAS, a blind employee’s need for assistive technology exists on day one of employment and every hour of delay negatively impacts a new employee’s favorable rating amongst supervisors, co-workers, and at times the public; and

WHEREAS, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, not the California Department of Rehabilitation, are responsible for enforcing employers’ obligations under the ADA; and

WHEREAS, rehabilitation technologies are not “comparable benefits” exempted from the California Department of Rehabilitation’s responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act, nor are employers “comparable services”; and

WHEREAS, a decade ago, through technical assistance circular 98-04, the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration expressly advised state vocational rehabilitation agencies that they are not to shift responsibility for providing rehabilitation technology to employers, stating that there is no basis in Title I of the Rehabilitation Act or its implementing regulations for state vocational rehabilitation agencies, including the California Department of Rehabilitation, to provide necessary rehabilitation technology contingent on employers meeting an undue-hardship test under the ADA; and

WHEREAS, the mission of the California Department of Rehabilitation is to work in “partnership with consumers and other stakeholders to provide services and advocacy resulting in employment, independent living and equality for individuals with disabilities”, so that its primary obligation is to its clients and it should do whatever is needed to help its clients get and keep jobs: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of California in Convention assembled this sixteenth day of October, 2008, in the city of Irvine, California, that this organization call on the California Department of Rehabilitation to accept its responsibility for purchasing assistive technology needed by its blind vocational rehabilitation clients to ensure that job opportunities are not lost in the morass of bureaucracy and debate over who ought to be responsible for such purchases; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind of California call upon the California Department of Rehabilitation to directly communicate a copy of this resolution along with technical assistance circular 98-04 to all Blind Field Services staff and provide them a thorough education to ensure that every counselor understands how this information can be used to assist with the justification for services needed by their blind clients; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind of California call upon California Department of Rehabilitation Blind Field Services Division to develop a written statement for Blind Field Services Counselors to deliver to their clients upon gaining employment that assures blind clients that it will provide any necessary equipment to ensure they are ready to perform the essential functions of their position on day one of their employment.