Mr. Chairman and members of this distinguished Committee. I am pleased to be accorded the privilege of appearing before you because as a congenital quadruple amputee, I am convinced of the importance of rehabilitation, it a personal duty to be here in support of this important vocational rehabilitation legislation. I feel I will be entering my second year of law school this fall and serve as a member of the Youth Committee of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults. This summer I will be working in Washington for the Small Business Administration doing legal research. As one who is sensitive to the great needs of disabled persons and who has experienced the great value of rehabilitation, I want to assure a similar opportunity to the millions of other handicapped young people and adults - an opportunity that can for many become a reality through continuing and strengthening of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. In my particular case, rehabilitation, which began as a very young child, was under the auspices of private and voluntary agencies in which the National Easter Seal Society played a vital role. Today I speak as a Board member of the largest voluntary health organization serving the physically handicapped The National Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults. My comments reflect two perspectives; that of a consumer of rehabilitation and that of an agency delivering services to the physically handicapped at the community level. THE EASTER SEAL SOCIETY The Rehabilitation Act of 1972 under consideration by this Subcommittee is of direct concern to Easter Seal Societies. For more than half a century, rehabilitation of the physically handicapped has been the primary goal of the National Easter Seal Society. Through our two thousand affiliated Societies, services were extended to 378,390 disabled children and adults in the past year. Easter Seal services include physical restoration, special education, vocational evaluation, training and adjustment, sheltered employment, camping and recreation, information, referral, follow-up, transportation and equipment loan. These services are provided to any handicapped child or adult whose potential for self-realization and independence can be enhanced. Cause, diagnostic label, age and economic status are not considerations. PARTNERSHIP PUBLIC AND VOLUNTARY EFFORT A creative partnership between governmental and voluntary rehabilitation agencies has achieved substantial progress in the nation's rehabilitation program. Major resources for the governmental agencies are the community rehabilitation centers. Planned, developed, directed by local volunteers and staffed by skilled professionals, these rehabilitation centers supply needed services to clients of the state vocational rehabilitation agencies as well as other public agencies and the community at large. Fees for clients' services, grants for construction and initial staffing, for expanding services and upgrading professional staff, and for technical assistance to enhance management skills have been provided through the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. This productive coalescence of public and voluntary programs deserves continued support. - 2 CURRENT PROBLEM Today, many community rehabilitation centers are experiencing a crisis a crisis of underutilization created by inadequate funding. A recent survey indicates that one-third of our Easter Seal rehabilitation facilities are operat ing at 60% capacity and that three-quarters of these facilities receive less than 50% of their operating expenditures from fees for services. Easter Seals' experience is not unique. With the community rehabilitation centers operating at their highest level of competence, a reservoir of professional skill lies untapped for lack of funding for rehabilitation services. More importantly, there are an estimated five million Americans who can benefit from rehabilitation services. Americans who with appropriate services can regain some measure of self-worth if not total selfsufficiency. Public and voluntary agencies can respond only if the existing rehabilitation program is strengthened and expanded. The proposed legislation will not solve the problem, immediately, but can provide the vehicle which can set the direction for the future. PROPOSED LEGISLATION The President, in his State of the Union message, said "I am presenting only vital programs which are within the capacity of this Congress to enact, within the capacity of the budget to finance, and which I believe should be above partisanship programs which deal with urgent priorities for the nation--" The proposed Rehabilitation Act of 1972, in our view, is a priority. The National Easter Seal Society strongly supports the purposes and intent of the Rehabilitation Act of 1972 HR-8395. We are in accord with the following provisions of HR 8395: The increased emphasis upon rehabilitation services for the severely handicapped in the basic program, Title 1. The more severely handicapped due to the pressures to serve others have been neglected by the vocational rehabilitation program and more 79-885 - 72 - pt. 2 - 3 - 3 recently the extension of service to the socially disadvantaged has reduced the services available to the physically handicapped. The addition of follow-up follow-along, and other part-employment services necessary to assist the handicapped to maintain employment and to secure services from other agencies. Such services are essential to the successful placement of the physically handicapped and will increase the potential for sustained employment. Establishment of a program of grants to states and to initiate or expand services, incorporating and broadening the expansion grant concept in section 4(a) (2) of the present Act. Authorization of appropriations under Title 11 for vocational evaluation and work adjustment, a program in the current law but one which has never been funded. The establishment of a new Title !!! Severely Handicapped. Improved ability to live independently is an appropriate goal for the severely handicapped and an important first step in economic self-sufficiency. The ability of the state rehabilitation agency to serve these severely handicapped persons with their highly individualized needs is significantly increased through Title 1. The authorization of the Secretary to conduct research studies. investigations, demonstrations and evaluation-programs and the specific mention of architectural, transportation, and other environmental and attitudinal barriers in the listing of problems appropriate for the Secretary to support. - 4 The establishment of a "National Information and Resource Center" the Act, the demands placed on these limited services would indicate The establishment of a "National Commission on Transportation and Housing for the Handicapped" which would consider, among other matters, how travel expenses in connection with transportation to and from work for handicapped individuals can be met or subsidized when such individuals are unable to use mass transportation. Two major deterrents to the use of public transportation by the handicapped are the inaccessibility of the vehicle itself and the inability to get to and from transit stops. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS The National Easter Seal Society endorses the following amendments and strongly supports their inclusion in the Rehabilitation Act. These amendments would provide: Increased appropriation authority for Title III to $50 million for fiscal year 1973, $80 million in 1974, and $100 million in 1975. |