Washington
Rally To Preserve RASA
On Thursday May 26, 2005, well over a thousand individuals and members of blind and disabled organizations met in Washington DC. Blind and other people with disabilities came from all over the country by train, plain, bus or whatever means to make their way in front of the US Department of Education in Washington to make their voices heard. These groups were there to protest the current Administration plans to weaken or dismantle the RSA (Rehabilitation Services Administration) and give the budget-making power over to states by consolidating power through block grants.. Their plan is to downgrade the position of RSA Commissioner, a position appointed by the president and which requires Senate confirmation, to an RSA Director, a position simply appointed by the Secretary of Education. They also threaten to close down RSA regional offices that oversee proper implementation of the vocational rehabilitation programs around the country.
Many disabled consumer groups were represented, but I went through the sponsorship of the National Federation of the Blind. The NFB was the major sponsor, along with the ACB (American Counsel of the Blind) and 42 other disability organizations. Protesters were holding up big signs saying things like “We will not be left behind.” The speakers included former RSA Commissioners of the Clinton, Carter and Nixon Administrations. Joanne Wilson, the current Commissioner who recently resigned also joined in to express her disapproval of the current political trend.
This issue of turning over rehabilitation services to states, which plan to combine these services with other departments, has raised deep concern among the blind community and cross disabilities. The slogan “No Blind Left Behind” was a major theme throughout the rally and several speakers raised their voices in an impassioned plea. Other chants were: “Spellings spells disaster” and “Two, four, six, eight: Hager’s plan is a big mistake.”
I will urge everyone to please contact their local organizations as well as political representatives both state and national to raise our disagreement with the Bush administration’s plans. These plans, if implemented, I believe could take us decades behind, in what has taken many years of civil rights work on the part of people with disabilities, especially the blind, to accomplish. It is because of the Rehabilitation Act that thousands of people with disabilities have become employed, and are living independent and quality lives that they otherwise would not.
Although this issue was highly emotional, all of the groups remained peaceful and expressed their views eloquently and respectfully. It was a fitting display of the democratic process at work and I was proud to be there and express my opinion with other likeminded individuals.
