October 10, 2025
The Honorable Linda McMahon
Secretary
United States Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202
Dear Madam Secretary:
In early September, we were made aware of several notices that had been sent out from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) to the administrators of certain Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) 235E grants and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part D programs notifying them that their grant funding would be discontinued.
Some of the programs that received these notices were three Braille literacy programs located in California, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, as well as four technical assistance centers for the deafblind located in Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. The National Federation of the Blind, the transformative membership and advocacy organization of blind Americans, urges you to reinstate funding for these RSA 235E grants and IDEA Part D programs.
The three Braille literacy programs mentioned above are specifically tailored to train educators of blind students to be more fluent in Braille and technology training. At the National Federation of the Blind, we know that Braille literacy in our youth often leads to better performance in school, the ability to obtain and keep employment as an adult, and the freedom to live a life of independence. That all begins with educators who understand and can teach Braille themselves.
Without this funding, the education of our youth and the independence of our working adults is in serious jeopardy. Additionally, we know that our deafblind brothers and sisters and their families truly benefit from the opportunity to utilize the existing training centers across the country that are funded by the IDEA grants, and that any decrease in funding will be detrimental to the ability of deafblind Americans to live independently.
We understand and are sympathetic to the desire to save American taxpayer dollars, but we fear that the discontinuation of funding for these programs will contribute to an entire generation of blind and deafblind Americans who will have no choice but to rely on government benefits for support because a means to our independence has been stripped away from us.
It is for these reasons that we strongly urge you to reinstate this critical funding as an avenue for us to achieve true independence, both socially and financially. There must be a better way to save money that does not come at the expense of condemning an entire group of Americans to be forced into a life of dependence.
If you have any questions, or if the National Federation of the Blind can be of assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Riccobono, President
National Federation of the Blind