Disability Rights Arkansas put out a press release today noting the reduction in services to the Division of Services for the Blind caused by the merging of state agencies under Governor Hutchinson, a process it said was flawed.
DSB has represented to us that they will not be providing all necessary services to all of their consumers, despite the requirements of the federal regulations governing them. Individuals who were once able to receive tuition assistance through DSB have now been told, mere weeks before school starts, that their tuition will be drastically cut through a mandated cap on assistance, with no room for exceptions, contrary to the federal regulations. They did not even inform their consumers until last week.
Disability Rights Arkansas Executive Director Tom Masseau said the “so-called efficiency” of combining agencies — the state’s 42 agencies have been combined into 15 — were “gained at the expense of people with disabilities … . Arkansans with disabilities should never be an afterthought by the State.”
In response to a question from the Times, Cassondra Williams, the director of the DSB — moved to the Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Services from the Department of Human Services — acknowledged administrative delays but said full funding had resumed.
The transfer to a new agency required Division of Services for the Blind (DSB) to change the name of the legal entity under which DSB will operate. This resulted in some administrative delays in receiving our fourth quarter funds. Because of that, a letter was sent to counselors in the last few days indicating the previous amounts for tuition payments would be modified according to available funding. However, as of August 1, our transfer was completed by our federal funders, and the program will be funded at its original level. DSB will draw our federal grant funds immediately and alert counselors and consumers.
Our mission is to promote consumer independence and counselors are available to assist consumers to identify other comparable benefit options.