Rehabilitation services: persons with vision loss.

Existing law provides for various services for individuals who are blind, including authorization for the Department of Rehabilitation to appoint counselor-teachers to provide individual guidance and training that will enable adult individuals who are blind adjust to daily living in the home and the community. Existing law requires a counselor-teacher to teach an adult individual who is blind reading and writing of braille, typing, travel techniques, and household arts and crafts in accordance with the needs of the blind person. This bill would eliminate the requirement for a counselor-teacher to teach typing and household arts and crafts, and instead would require the counselor-teacher to teach independent living skills and to provide assistive technology training to an adult individual who is blind. Existing federal law establishes the Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who Are Blind program, under which funds are awarded to states to provide independent living services to individuals who are 55 years of age or older and whose severe visual impairment makes competitive employment difficult to obtain, but for whom independent living goals are feasible. Pursuant to this federal program, the state Department of Rehabilitation administers the Older Individuals Who Are Blind program, which provides grants to specified organizations across the state to provide services to visually impaired individuals who are 55 years of age and older, to assist them to live independently. Other federal law, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, among other things, awards grants to states for vocational rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities. This bill would require the department to establish a grant program to provide services to promote independent living to adults who are blind or have low vision, and who are not eligible to receive vocational rehabilitation services pursuant to the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The bill would require the department to award grants to private organizations with demonstrated expertise in serving adults who are blind or have low vision. The bill would authorize the department to select private organizations awarded grants under the most recent solicitation of grantees under the state's Older Individuals who are Blind program without using a competitive awards process. The bill would require the department to implement the program subject to an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act or through the use of any other funds already made available for the purposes described by the bill. The bill would eliminate an obsolete funding requirement in a related provision.