RESOLUTION 2001-3

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.