Basically, you've hit upon the key to the problem, given there's enough money in the state/district/local yes, and even specific Counselor's budget. Truth is, while the primary purpose of VR programs is to get "legally blind" folks employed, preventative strategies tend to get the first nod. That is, if one can close a case by visual restoration, be it aides, or surgery, that's more important in getting a person back into the tax paying stream, than the longer-term process of habilitation in the congenitally blind client's situation, or "Rehabilitation" in the case of Advantitiously blinded individuals. Both are longer-term processes, with statistically suspect outcomes. A counselor often has a quota of Status 26, (successfully employed for 6-months) to maintain ir increase Federal Matching Funds, and frankly, it's easier and cheaper and faster to do restoritive surgery or glasses, or to get a Partially Sighted person employed in some entry-level job than spend money on a congenitally blind total, when unemployment among legally blind adults is at 85%.
The person who can write, or have "ghost written" a justification, or the person in an agency our a vendor, who can do that for a Counselor, is more likely to get the "aid or appliance". (grin) When I worked for FL DBS, Rehab Teacher for Adult Blind, 1978-85, I wrote justifications for Counselors all over the state for devices such as the LED 120, Etc. which was $16,000 in 1978 dollars, a lot of bread then, but the end-user has been a tax payer making good bread ever since... Since then, I've helped a lot of people write justifications. Perhaps, if anyone is interested, I could dig up some old justification letters for specific pieces of gear as models. Nick On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 20:43:29 -0500, Lisa Kozlik wrote: >Anita, >What rehab will and won't pay for varies from state to state and from >counselor to counselor. I was fortunate enough to have VR purchase my >BrailleNote 32. In making this request, I wrote a letter explaining why the >BN would serve my needs better than any other notetaker available on the >market. I also received a letter of support from several staff members at my >university. >Perhaps you might try compiling the same information. As you probably >already know, when you're dealing with VR, the best thing to do is to give >them all of the information you can...and then some. While this won't >guarantee funding approval, it will get you one step closer to justifying >your case. >Lisa K. >"To achieve the possible, you must attempt the impossible. To be the best >you can be, you must dream of being more." >-- Anonymous >___ >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
