THE VOICE
Vision · Opportunities · Innovation · Choices · Expertise.
Oregon Commission for the Blind, February 2023
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE
Welcome to the first edition of The Voice for 2023! The year has gotten off to a great start for OCB. As we continue to move away from the public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oregonians who are blind are resuming their life activities with the support of the agency. We are seeing record number of seniors accessing services to support their ability to live independently and continue to be active in their communities. We are also providing training and support services to the many Oregonians who are blind who have entered the workforce, to ensure they have long-term success in retaining that employment.
Our agency is proud to support Governor Kotek’s priorities for Oregon to ensure that our citizens who experience vision loss can access their behavioral health needs, maintain stable housing, obtain a quality education and graduate from high school, and pursue vocational and/or higher education and participate in the economic opportunities available to support themselves and their families.
This edition of The Voice highlights some of the critical work happening at the agency. I hope you enjoy reading about the agency mission in action!
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Client Uses Accessible Tech to Tell her Story |
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OCB client Perlita worked with her speech pathologist to create a video using her communication device to speak about her experience with OCB and her work at the Sandy Historical Society. We hope you find it as inspirational as we do!
Video embedded at right.
Image, description by Britteny Asher:
Twenty-something smiling woman wearing dark sunglasses and a red sweatshirt has her dark hair pulled into two ponytails and is seated in a power wheelchair. In front of her, close to her lap, an iPad is mounted. She accesses the iPad through the use of a single finger on her left hand. Her right hand is hiding in her sleeve.
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Movement Class Increases Confidence, Skills |
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The Orientation and Career Center (OCCB) for the Blind is an in-depth training program focused on skill development that leads to work force readiness and independent living. The skills clients learn are broken up into three areas: technology, techniques of daily living, and orientation & mobility (cane travel). Each of these areas help clients gain the adaptive skills to live in a sighted world and find a fulfilling career path.
Clients who experience vision loss often have a sedentary period because they lack the skills to navigate outside the home. This causes decreased confidence and increased isolation. To help students re-orient themselves to space, OCCB offers a class called Mindful Movement.
Image: An instructor is adjusting a student during a yoga pose which will help them with cane travel skills. The feedback gained through Mindful Movement is foundational to navigating city streets and other new environments. Our goal is to help clients get moving again so they can work and be a contributing member of their community.
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Clients can spend anywhere from three months to a year learning the skills to be blind in a sighted world. It’s common that the first time a new client has met another blind person is at the Commission. The community built here is just as important as the job skills because students feel validated in their journey and can talk to others who have successfully tread this road before them.
This powerful combination of skills and community sends a message to the client that their journey is a supported one but also that they can and will succeed in the world of competitive employment.
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OCB Breaks Records Serving Older Clients |
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In FFY 2022, the Older Blind program, served a record breaking 930 people.
Our goal is to teach clients adaptations to safely perform daily living tasks so they may age in place. Our Rehabilitation Instructors assess functional vision, glare, and lighting. They then recommend magnifiers and other remediation. They discuss activities of daily living such as brushing teeth, doing laundry and sorting clothes, using kitchen appliances, cooking, and maintaining a calendar.
Image: Senior woman carefully leans over and reaches into a microwave.
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Having a phone that the client can comfortably use is a priority. We partner with the Public Utility Commission by assessing, recommending, and then training our clients how to use the devices. We also partner with the State Library’s Talking Book program. They provide a player and books on USB are sent to the client via free matter for the blind. The world can be a lonely place and being able to listen to a book or call your best friend is critically important to the seniors we serve. Training in advocacy and orientation and mobility are provided as well.
Image: Senior man watches a young woman as she holds up a smart phone; he touches the screen and she smiles encouragingly.
The Independent Living program is grateful for the ability to keep our seniors happy, engaged and independent in our communities throughout Oregon.
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Celebrating Fifty Years of Summer Work Experience |
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This summer OCB will celebrate a half-century of preparing youth with vision loss to enter the workforce as we welcome our fiftieth Summer Work Experience Program (SWEP) cohort!
SWEP gives Oregon youth between the ages of 16-20 who experience vision loss the opportunity to engage in community-based work experiences carefully designed to be relevant to their personal career and growth goals.
Image: SWEP student brushes a pinto pony at her work experience placement at HART Farms.
Students in both the Salem (First Track) and Portland (Second Track) programs are housed in dormitory settings where they are trained in independent living skills. SWEP Third Track students live/work in their homes/communities.
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When SWEP began in 1973, many of the jobs we are helping youth to prepare for did not exist. OCB has innovated and adapted to the many cultural and technological changes in the workforce so that students have the best chances for immediate and long-term success in employment.
Students have engaged in a wide variety of internships over the years based on their interests, such as city planner, theater administrator, bike mechanic, language interpreter, research lab assistant, coder, gardener, museum exhibit facilitator, and much more.
Image: SWEP student waits in a museum lobby to help guests at his work experience placement at OMSI. He wears a suit and holds a white cane.
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Image: SWEP student prunes roses at his work experience placement at the Washington Park Rose Garden.
Our team is busily planning another transformative year of SWEP. If you know an agency or business that might be interested in hosting an OCB-paid work experience for a young person, please let us know! transition@ocb.oregon.gov.
Here’s to 50 more years of helping students who are low-vision and blind enjoy the independence, stability and prosperity that participating in the workforce can offer!
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New Sites, New Strategies: Business Enterprise Program |
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Since 2020, COVID-19 has transformed the global economy and served as a major catalyst for economic change, especially in the food service industry.
In 2022, occupancy of government office buildings slowly improved but building occupancy levels remain well below pre-pandemic levels. This reduction in our customer client base has continued to impact the food service industry, forcing some vendors out of business. The Business Enterprise Program’s (BEP) Vending Facility Managers (VFMs) continue to be significantly impacted.
Image: A sign taped to inside of cafe window, facing out, reads "Temporarily CLOSED Covid-19". Inside there are chairs on the tables and a staff person cleans.
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Financial forecasts predict a long, slow recovery. However, this year, the overall average BEP VFM income ticked up 9% over last year thanks in part to the addition of the South Falls Café at Silver Falls State Park in May, 2021, and the transformation from traditional to more "intelligent" vending offered to consumers in a sanitary, touchless environment known as a micro market.
Image: A customer scans a shrink-wrapped lunch item at a micro market kiosk.
In 2022, the BEP installed four new micro markets in the Portland and Salem metro areas. This past year also saw the continued implementation of the vending self-service initiative with a rollout of 50 BEP-owned vending machines operated by a VFM in the Portland metro area.
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Employers: a Crucial Partner |
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OCB works hard to provide its job-seeking clients the highest quality levels of instruction, support, and access to resources to make their hopes and dreams become a reality. For that to happen, it’s important to remember another key partner in this journey – the employer!
The employer is a vital customer at OCB. The better prepared they are to understand the bottom-line value of partnering with us and hiring our clients, the better outcomes for everyone, now and in the future.
Image: An office worker stands over a desk giving instructions to an OCB client at her work experience placement. The client wears two sets of head phones and is touching her desk phone buttons which have been brailled.
Our Workforce Services team is always looking for new opportunities to partner with employers. We are currently developing and rolling out a series of activities for businesses and employer partners that focus on the topics of most interest to them, such as inclusive hiring, disability awareness, and assistive technology demonstrations.
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OCB and our sister agency Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation have partnered to host Business Leader’s Lunch and Learn events every other month. Designed to increase disability awareness and cover topics around Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA), they bring together business leaders from across Oregon to share ideas, resources, and best practices.
Image: Three office workers sit and stand by a laptop being used by a fourth worker, whose camera is on, capturing their meeting. On the laptop screen are several more worker who are also in the meeting.
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Want to learn more about OCB?
Click the links below to visit our website and YouTube channels.
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OCB Vocational Rehabilitation and Business Services are funded by the state/federal VR program. |
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