East Hartford, Connecticut (April 29, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut (NFB of CT) says that the proposed state budget, which consolidates the currently independent Board of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) into a new Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, will cost the state more money in the long-term and will endanger the educational and employment prospects for thousands of blind citizens. The largest organization of the blind in Connecticut insists that since services for the blind are very specific in nature, eliminating the stand-alone structure of BESB, stripping the power of its independent oversight board, and putting someone with no expertise in managing blindness services in charge of the agency will ensure that this model for an efficient, working state agency will not continue to get the great results it has achieved in recent years.
BESB, which currently delivers services to twelve thousand blind, deaf-blind, and multiply handicapped people in Connecticut, is the oldest state agency serving blind people in the country. According to the Department of Education, Connecticut under BESB ranks in the top five states for high school graduation rates, job placement rates, and average annual salaries. National statistics also show unequivocally that states with independent, stand-alone agencies serving the blind have higher literacy rates, higher high school graduation rates, higher employment rates, and higher average salaries for the clients they serve.
Elizabeth Rival, president of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut, said: "Blind people nationally face an unemployment rate of 70 percent. Burying BESB in a large bureaucracy might save the state four hundred thousand dollars per year in administrative costs, but the lower high school graduation rate and higher unemployment rate for blind people that will result from the decreased accountability will end up costing the state much more in the long-term. More of our blind citizens will be receiving disability benefits when they could instead be working and paying taxes.