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 New Mexico Commission for the Blind  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Commission for the Blind logo (add logo)

The New Mexico Commission for the Blind is a New Mexico (hyperlink to state agency providing vocational rehabilitation and independent living services to persons in New Mexico who are blind or visually impaired. The purpose is to help these individuals to become employed, or to live more independently in their own homes and communities. The Commission is authorized pursuant to Title I of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended  (reference to 29 U.S.C. 701-744 and Public Law 113-128). < The Commission is also the state licensing agency in New Mexico for the Federal Randolph-Sheppard Act. (reference to Public Law 74-732, as amended by Public Law 83-565 and P.L. 93-516; 20 U.S.C. Sec. 107 et seq)

Picture of a long white cane (add picture)

People who are blind lead normal lives, have families, raise children, participate in community activities, and work in a wide range of jobs. They are administrative professionals, lawyers, teachers, engineers, machinists, scientists, supervisors, and business owners. The real challenge is to educate blind people about their own potential and to teach society about their capabilities.

Contents

Mission

History

Orientation Center

Directors

Commissioners

State Rehabilitation Council

Making of the Eye

Office Locations,

References

Mission The mission of the New Mexico Commission for the Blind is to enable persons who are blind to achieve vocational, economic, and social equality by providing career preparation, training in the skills of blindness, and (above all) promoting and conveying the belief that blindness is not a barrier to successful employment nor to living an independent and meaningful life.

History

Efforts to create a Commission for the Blind in New Mexico began when services for the blind were transferred from the Welfare Department to the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which happened in 1971. Members of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico (reference to NFB of New Mexico web page) unsuccessfully opposed the move, seeking instead to create a separate agency for the blind. (reference to Braille Monitor, July, 1986 "New Mexico Gets A Commission for the Blind.  The National Federation of the Blind had long advocated for separate agencies for the blind. The goal was to create an agency similar to the Iowa Department for the Blind, which under the leadership of Kenneth Jernigan had become a national model. (reference to Braille Monitor, March,1983, What We Can Expect From a Commission for the Blind, Omvig,   James H.   >https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm97/bm970605.htm>

The New Mexico legislature meets in longer 60 day sessions in oddly numbered years. Legislation that would have moved services from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and into a separate agency for the blind was introduced in 1975, 1979, and 1985. (reference to Braille Monitor, July, 1986 "New Mexico Gets A Commission for the Blind. 

On February 18, 1986, the New Mexico Legislature passed the Commission for the Blind Act (reference to 28-7-15 to 28-7-23 NMSA 1978). The bill was signed by Governor Toney Anaya on Wednesday, March 5, 1986. The law created the New Mexico Commission for the Blind and specified that it would be administered by a three-member board of commissioners appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The law also specified that at least one of these commissioners must be a person who was blind. (reference to Braille Monitor, July, 1986, New Mexico Gets A Commission for the Blind, Schroeder, Fredric K.) https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm86/bm8607/bm860716.htm>

Orientation Center

Picture of Orientation Center, showing the facade and patio of an adobe-style building behind a National Registry of Historical Places marker. (add picture) The Commission for the Blind operates a residential training facility called the New Mexico Orientation Center. The Orientation Center is located in Alamogordo. Alamogordo was made famous by the detonation of the first atomic bomb (hyperlink to Wikipedia Trinity Nuclear test) on July 16, 1945. Alamogordo is about 80 miles from the actual Trinity Site located on what was then the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range and is now the White Sands Missile Range.

The Orientation Center is located in a building that had once been used as a sheltered workshop where blind persons worked making brooms and other items. The building was owned by the New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped, now the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The New Mexico School for the Visually Handicapped transferred the building to the Department of Services for the Blind in 1968. The building is now a facility that trains persons who are blind or visually impaired to be competitively employed in meaningful careers that are in keeping with their interests and abilities.

Picture of National Registry of Historical Places marker (add pic)

The following text is on the Historical Places marker that describes the Orientation Center building:

COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND ORIENTATION CENTER The Orientation Center teaches persons who are blind or visually impaired the skills to live independently and work competitively. Originally part of the new Mexico School for The Blind and Visually Impaired, the “Training Center” opened in 1949 before integrated work became the preferred choice. In the “sheltered Shop” graduates made brooms and cane products. NMSBVI transferred the center to the Commission for the Blind in 1968.

The Orientation Center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). The Orientation Center is also certified by the National Blindness Professional Certification Board (NBPCB). As an NBPCB certified blindness training center, the Orientation Center uses the Structured Discovery method to instruct students, and is one of several state training centers that has adopted the structured discovery method (reference to A Review of Rehabilitation in America: Reflections of the Past, Observations of the Present, and Speculations about the Future; Braille Monitor, March, 2005; . Structured discovery is the term that has been coined to define a specific methodology used in the rehabilitation of blind people. This methodology, born out of the collective knowledge, experiences, and beliefs of successful blind men and women who have achieved independence, serves as the driving force behind effective rehabilitation training today. (reference to Structured Discovery in the Classroom, Braille Monitor, February, 2008 )

Directors

Picture of Greg D. Trapp (add picture)

The New Mexico Commission for the Blind is administered by an Executive Director who is hired by the three Commissioners who constitute the Commission for the Blind governing board. The Commission has had four Executive Directors since its founding in 1986. The current and longest-serving Executive Director is Greg D. Trapp, who became Director on June 22, 1999 (reference to A Man of Vision, Albuquerque Journal, October 8, 1999).

Picture of Fred K. Schroeder (add pic)

The Commission’s first Executive Director was Fredric K. Schroeder. . Schroeder served as Executive Director from 1986 to 1994. Schroeder resigned after he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as the ninth commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, which is responsible for administering the public vocational rehabilitation program.

Picture of Arthur A. Schreiber (add pic)

The second Director of the Commission was Arthur A. Schreiber. (reference to “Out of Sight and Doing All Right”) Schreiber began his professional career working in radio, where he covered the tumultuous decade of the 60s as a reporter for Westinghouse Broadcasting (hyperlink to Westinghouse Broadcasting Wikipedia). Schreiber reported on John F. Kennedy, LYNDON JOHNSON, Martin Luther King, and was imbedded (check for better wording) with the Beatles on their first tour of the United States. Schreiber was appointed by Governor Toney Anaya to the Commission in 1986, where he became the first Commission Chair. Schreiber became Director of the Commission on October 7, 1995, and served in that capacity until December 31, 1996. (reference to Out of Sight: Blind and Doing All Right.)

Picture of Gary Haug (add pic)

The third Executive Director was Gary Haug. Haug became Director on January 1, 1997, and served in that capacity until June of 1999. Haug is the only sighted person to serve as Director of the Commission.

Commissioners

The New Mexico Commission for the Blind consists of three members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate. (reference to 28-7-16(A) NMSA 1978). The three current members of the Commission are: 

Photo of Chairman Arthur A. Schreiber (add photo)

Arthur Schreiber, Chairman Albuquerque, 2003 to present Dallas Allen, Albuquerque, 2006 to present Jim Babb, Albuquerque, 2014 to present

Prior Commissioners include: Helen Savoie, Alamogordo, 2003 to 2014 Don Harlin, Albuquerque,2005 to 2006 Albert Gonzales, Santa Fe, 2003 to 2005 Jeff Blair, Albuquerque, 2001 to 2002 Rebecca Milligan, Albuquerque, 2001 to 2002 Karen Edwards, Los Alamos, 1998 to 2002 Manuel Gonzales, Alamogordo, 1995 to 2002 Nick Jenkins, Carlsbad, 1995 to 2001 Mary Lena Castillo, Albuquerque, 1994 to 1998 Gilbert Martinez, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, 1991 to 1995 Basilio Roybal, Santa Fe, 1986 to 1991 Geetha Pai, Las Cruces, 1986 to 1994 Arthur Schreiber, Albuquerque, 1986 to 1995 (2003 to present)

State Rehabilitation Council

The Commission provides vocational rehabilitation service pursuant to a State Plan that is developed in partnership with the State Rehabilitation Council. The State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) was created as a result of the 1998 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Making of the Eye

The Commission for the Blind provided technical assistance and props for The Eye, a 2008 supernatural horror movie starring Jessica Alba that was filmed in Albuquerque. The movie also starred Parker Posey and Alessandro Nivola. Alba played Sydney Wells, a blind violinist who began seeing supernatural visions of the future after a corneal transplant restored her vision. The Commission assisted Alba to portray Wells in a realistic fashion. Alba spent several days as an incognito student at the Commission’s Orientation Center in Alamogordo where she received training on how to function as a blind person.

The movie begins with Wells portrayed as a poised and proficient musician who happens to be blind. After receiving a corneal transplant that restores her eyesight, Wells becomes awkward and uncomfortable as she learns how to use her newly restored eyesight. Wells soon begins to have strange visions of fires and people dying. Seeking an explanation for her visions, Wells travels to Mexico to investigate the cornea donor. On her way home Wells finds the people in her visions who she save from dying in a fiery car accident. In the process, Wells is struck by flying glass from an exploding tanker truck and is again blinded. The final scenes shows Wells having returned to a poised and proficient blind person.

Jim Salas, Deputy Director, plays the character “Jim” who greets Wells as she enters a room where a party is being held, saying “welcome home.” The “welcome home” scene was featured on the trailer for the movie. (reference to http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi263323929/ )

Greg Trapp is featured in Becoming Sydney, one of four featurettes on the DVD and Blue-Ray editions. Trapp describes how the Commission assists Alba to realistically portray Wells as a competent blind person. ( reference to http://www.movieweb.com/movie/the-eye-2008/greg-trapp-interview).

Office Locations,

Picture of Albuquerque field Office showing a tile mosaic and walkway. (add picture)

The Commission has field offices in Albuquerque, Roswell, Las Cruces, Las Vegas, and Farmington. The Commission’s administrative office is in Santa Fe, and the Commission’s Orientation Center is in Alamogordo.

References