Elimination of the Department of Services for the Blind
Will Save No Dollars-It's Time to Bubble Up
by Carl Jarvis
Back in those "good old days" of the early Twentieth Century, blind people
had very little in the way of a support network. Mostly they lived on the
kindness of family members or begged on the street corners.
But the blind began to form "self help" clubs and in 1918 a workshop called
"The Lighthouse for the Blind" opened in downtown Seattle.
Later, it was through the efforts of these blind clubs that legislation was
passed providing aid to the blind and free college tuition for those who
qualified.
The White Cane Law (the Blind Bill of Rights) and the right to serve on jury
duty, were other examples of legislation brought to Olympia by the organized
blind community.
Blind people had learned an important lesson. If you want change you must
organize and make it happen. It was the culmination of the tireless efforts
of the organized blind, which brought into being the building in Seattle at
3411 South Alaska Street, in 1963, dedicated to serve the blind of our
state.
And yet it was only six years later that the governor decided to eliminate
the separate programs for the blind. He moved the program under the newly
established Department of Social and Health Services. Blind people were
stunned to learn that their programs would be merged with other services for
disabled people. And even worse, interaction between the blind community and
their programs was becoming impossible. A meeting with the governor did
nothing to change his mind. "Efficient government" was what he believed he
was accomplishing.
Seven long years the blind people went to the legislature with a bill to
establish a separate agency. Finally, the blind outlasted the governor. In
1977, the Commission for the Blind came into being. The commission, later
renamed the Department of Services for the Blind, has continued serving our
state to this very day.
Even so it was not until the mid 80s that the department responded to the
demand for services to the older blind.
Prior to the establishment of the Independent Living Program life had not
improved much for older blind people from those days back in the 1920s.
Isolated, untrained, and dependent, they were kept in back bedrooms of their
children's homes or put into nursing homes where they were at the mercy of
staff untrained in meeting the needs of the blind.
For the past twenty-five years the Independent Living Program has been
attempting to assist newly blind seniors to continue living independent
lives. But despite the stated commitment to serve the older blind, the
department has been unable to raise the level of services above that of bare
minimum. And now the governor's office is extracting over $100,000 from the
Older Blind Program. This is projected to cut off about 20% of current
services. The department tells us that they are looking for ways to soften
this financial blow. But they need our help and support.
It's time for us to "Bubble Up." Get the ground swell going again. Let's
inform both the department and our legislature that the needs of older blind
people are just as important as are those of the younger blind. We must
present our case. If we wait for others to do it, we will be waiting a very long time.
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