John M. McMahon, CVRT, CLVT
Past Chair, Vision Rehabilitation Therapy Division
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired

John earned his Master of Arts Degree in Rehabilitation Teaching from Western Michigan University in 1985. Since that time, he has worked as a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, and Low Vision Therapist in Maine and Michigan. John currently holds ACVREP certification in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy and Low Vision Therapy, and is presently working on his doctorate in Interdisciplinary Health Studies at Western Michigan University. John is presently employed as the state Director of the Maine Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Augusta, Maine.

Reprinted from the VRT News, Spring 2009 Issue, with permission of the Association for Education & Rehabilitation of the Blind & Visually Impaired, Alexandria, VA.

A week ago I was in Washington D.C. where I attended conferences of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) and the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB). Most of the attendees of these conferences were directors and other administrators of state vocational rehabilitation (VR) and VR blindness agencies, and the major topic discussed was how we're supposed to spend the funds that came to vocational rehabilitation agencies as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the "stimulus package"). I'd like to talk to you about an idea that connects these funds to the field of Vision Rehabilitation Therapy.

First, let me give you a bit of background. In case you weren't aware, the stimulus package that was signed into law by President Obama back in February contained $540 million for Vocational Rehabilitation Services, $140 million for Independent Living Services, and another $34 million for the Independent Living/Older Blind Program. Each state received this extra one-time funding through this law, as did each agency within the state. (Some states have two agencies; one for general vocational rehabilitation, and one specifically for blindness.) In the states with both type of federally recognized state agencies, each received their own funding from the stimulus package.

Generally, this money is to be spent primarily to help people with disabilities become employed. In addition, however, states can build or repair infrastructure within their programs related to employment, independent living, or transition of youth from high school, as long as any of these efforts that are supported by such funds are sustainable once the funding ends. Most state agencies have already received all of their Independent Living/Older Blind Program funds, and half of their VR funds. The other half of the VR funds will arrive around October 1 of this year. As I understand it, all of this additional one-time funding needs to be spent by the end of September 2010.

In addition to federal government guidance around how these funds are to be spent, another major topic of conversation at the two above-mentioned conferences was the type of projects various states are designing to utilize these funds. It was at one of these discussions of how states are planning to spend this money that I had one of those "ah-hah" type moments, which I would like to share with you.

During this particular session, I listened to folks from a number of states talk about the lack of available professionals in the blindness field, and even heard a couple individuals say there just weren't enough universities offering such programs, especially in Vision Rehabilitation Therapy. I shared with this group my view that the number of university programs available isn't really the big problem, but rather filling the existing programs with students is more the issue. To my knowledge, I reported, most of the university programs, if any, are not running at their highest level of capacity. This is where the light bulb turned on; why not use the stimulus package funding to get more clients of state VR agencies into professional preparation programs in the blindness field!

Imagine if each state used their stimulus funding to get at least one additional person into a university training program. This would yield 50 additional professionals entering our field in the next year or two. Imagine if things got really crazy and each state was able to support two or three students! We could have a veritable wave of new professionals washing into the field just when they are needed the most!

Okay, I hear you thinking, "Nice idea John, but how can we make that happen?" Well, here is a thought. We somehow need to present this idea to the VR or VR blindness agency in our particular state. This can be done through the various agencies' consumer advisory groups or the State Rehabilitation Council (SRC). All state VR agencies have such a group made up of stakeholders and consumers. If we can sell them, they in turn can help us sell the idea to VR Counselors and administrators of the state agencies. The membership of these groups and SRCs are public information and may be obtained through the particular agency's web site or simply by calling and asking for it. I suggest contacting the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind in each state, both to build consumer support for such an effort and because folks from these consumer groups are often involved in state advisory groups and SRCs.

One of the major selling points of this idea, in my view, is that the intent of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in terms of funding of vocational rehabilitation is getting people with disabilities into the workforce. In addition, there is language in the Act regarding a focus on in-demand type of jobs. So if an agency uses stimulus package funding to get their clients into a university training program in the blindness field, these students would have an excellent opportunity to become fully employed in high demand jobs. This is exactly what the intent of the law is! Everybody wins!

 I don't know if we will ever have such an opportunity to impact the number of new professionals coming into the field as we do with our ability to take advantage of stimulus funding. If ever you wanted to be part of the "bigger picture" of the growth of Vision Rehabilitation Therapy, the time is right now! Each of us can play a role and help get this ball rolling in our individual state. Let us know of your successes and also feel free to share your frustrations.

Join the Conversation

Send your comments to John at john.m.mcmahon@wmich.edu or use the comment feature on this page.

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