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SALT LAKE CITY — State officials who work to help people who are blind or visually impaired say it takes pushing clients out of their comfort zone to teach skills that will allow them to live independently and hold down full-time jobs, but a group of blind clients say state workers are pushing them too hard.
"They need to ease up," said Leslie Gertsch, who stood in front of the Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. "They frighten people off due to their rigidity."
Gertsch joined a group of other blind and visually impaired people who held a protest Monday afternoon outside the DSBVI facility, complaining about what they say is a heavy-handed approach to skills training.
They need to ease up. They frighten people off due to their rigidity.
–Leslie Gertsch
TerriLynne Pomeroy, another blind client, said people are being pushed into dangerous situations, like crossing streets on their own, without adequate training. Many clients are too afraid to complain to DSBVI for fear they will be removed from programs out of retribution. Others, Pomeroy said, are discouraged from using guide dogs when they want them or are forced to use Braille when their sense of touch is poor.
DSBVI Director William Gibson, who himself is visually impaired, said his division's goal is to train people in skills that will allow them to lead independent lives and able to compete for jobs against people who can see. This includes training clients to travel unassisted, learn to use a cane and develop professional skills, such as typing and accessing the Internet. A big part of this, Gibson said, is encouraging clients to push themselves into unfamiliar territory and toward independence. While he acknowledges that the training programs are not popular among every blind or visually impaired person, they are supported by several studies that show a high success rate in getting clients employed.
I think our training program is one of the best, if not the best, in the country. We support training with high expectations.
–William Gibson
"I think our training program is one of the best, if not the best, in the country," Gibson said. "We support training with high expectations."
A local advocacy group has come to the state's defense. "We have high expectations for blind people," said Ron Gardner, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Utah. "It takes work. It takes effort."
Gardner and other NFB members also gathered Monday outside DSBVI in a show of support for the state organization. Gardner said it can be scary for a blind person to learn how to live independently, and it takes an instructor who can encourage them to realize they can do more than they thought they were capable of.
Pomeroy agrees that having high expectations can be good for some, but she says others may need a more gentle approach and DSBVI should be sensitive to those needs. "They're not listening to their concerns," she said.
Norm Gardner, a professor of finance at Utah Valley University, said he never would have been able to achieve a career as a professor if he hadn't had training that set a higher expectation of what he was capable of.
Donald Uchida, executive director of the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, which oversees DSBVI, said his office is open to hearing the concerns of all clients. Gibson proposed employing more of a two-track approach in which clients who are not yet ready to be pushed can opt for less demanding training.
Email:gfattah@desnews.com
