Concerning the Formation of a Florida Commission for the Blind

WHEREAS
it is estimated that there are more than 500,000 Blind citizens in the State of Florida; and

WHEREAS
the Florida Department of Education, Division of Blind Services is a specialized agency whose staff members are specialists in work with the blind; and

WHEREAS
one of the goals of the Division of Blind Services is to assist blind Floridians in obtaining and maintaining gainful, meaningful vocational outcomes, to compete on terms of full equality with their sighted peers; and

WHEREAS
the goals of the Division is not limited to obtaining vocational outcomes, but also include working with infants, school age children, parents, and the older blind; and

WHEREAS
the Executive Director of Blind Services has researched rehabilitation programs in other states and is recommending that a Commission For People Who are Blind be enacted; and

WHEREAS
the creation of an independent Commission for the Blind to include the reassignment of the Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services to the Commission:  Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED
by the National Federation of the Blind of Florida, in convention assembled this first day of September, in the city of Tampa, Florida, on behalf of blind citizens of the State of Florida, that this organization is in support of a Commission for the Blind, but with several important provisions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
that we recommend that the commission be made up of nine, rather than seven, members, to insure better representation of Consumers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
that strict guidelines be established for the selection of Commissioners, to ensure that all nationally known blind consumer groups be fully represented; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
that, the official name of the Commission be The Florida Commission for the Blind, rather than the Commission for People who are Blind.