Lighthouse for the Blind Closes Sheltered Shop
and Feels that It Got a Bum Rap
by Kenneth Jernigan
In the fall of 1995 The Lighthouse, located in New York
City, decided to close its sheltered workshop and try to
help able-bodied blind employees find work in the regular
competitive market. Even though it would seem hard to
quarrel with this action as a basic concept, some did.
In its December, 1996, issue, The Braille Forum, a
publication of the American Council of the Blind, raked The
Lighthouse over the coals. In an article titled, "Choice:
Not Just for the Chosen Few," the Forum accused The
Lighthouse of everything from robbing workshop employees of
their right to make choices to a deliberate effort to try to
prevent them from getting work in another sheltered setting.
As will be seen from the article, which we reprint here in
full, the language is anything but dispassionate.
We have never hesitated to criticize agencies doing
work with the blind when we have thought it necessary. But
we do not publish inadequately researched, politically
motivated, biased articles, which (though they fit the
classic definition of "muck-raking") try to disguise
themselves as investigative reporting. Such tactics do
nothing but create strife and ill will.
Before turning to the text of the Forum article, it
might be worthwhile to examine some of its specifics. In the
third paragraph from the end, there is a sentence which
reads: "The Lighthouse said that the only choice these
workers had was to give up their jobs and collect a benefit
check--or to accept work in substandard conditions."
Regardless of what The Lighthouse management might have
felt, is it really reasonable to believe that a Lighthouse
official would have said what is alleged? This speaks to the
tone and flavor of the Forum article.
And so does a passage close to the beginning. The
second paragraph reads as follows: "There is a controversy
raging inside agencies serving the blind regarding the
merits of operating �facility-based employment� for blind
people." Regardless of how often one meets politically
correct language, it is always just as distasteful as it was
the last time. It attempts to deceive by using high-flown
language.
As to the present instance, in case you are not
familiar with it, "facility-based employment" is simply the
latest way of trying to sugar-coat the term "sheltered
workshop." Let me not be misunderstood. Sheltered workshops
may be good or bad. But we shouldn't try to pretend by
terminology that they are what they are not. A sheltered
shop is a sheltered shop, and it must stand or fall on its
own merit without the prop of a linguistic crutch.
By way of background, The Lighthouse was established in
1906 by two sisters, Winifred and Edith Holt. Its purpose
was to help blind persons get opera tickets, and The
Lighthouse still runs a music school. Later it established a
sheltered workshop, and somewhere along the way it began to
recruit volunteers to do reading and recording for blind
persons. Barbara Silverstone, the president and chief
executive officer of The Lighthouse, says that in addition
to its New York City operation The Lighthouse is expanding
its scope to the national and international stage. Among
other things, this includes training of professionals to
work with people who have low vision.
But back to the article in the December issue of The
Braille Forum. Here it is in full:
Choice: Not Just for the Chosen Few
by Donald Moore
(Editor's Note: The author is a former president of the
American Council of the Blind of New York. He currently
serves as vice chairman of the board of Industries for the
Blind in New York state.)
There is a controversy raging inside agencies serving
the blind regarding the merits of operating "facility-based
employment" for blind people.
While the goal of integrating blind workers into the
mainstream sounds good, the reality can be much different
and should raise serious questions among those concerned
with the continued employment and independence of blind
workers. With 70 percent of all blind working-age people
unemployed, mainstreaming today is more of a wish than a
viable option, especially for those without a college
education. As you'll see, it all comes down to the question,
"Who should choose what's right for blind workers, the
workers themselves or the people holding executive positions
at blindness agencies?"
Having just passed the anniversary after The
Lighthouse, Inc. in New York City chose to close its
workshop, thus displacing fifty-five blind workers, it seems
fitting to look at what "choice" really can mean.
The Lighthouse decided that its workshop facility
should close so that workers could be retrained and
integrated into the mainstream job market. That was the
reasoning of its leaders. The workers had virtually no say
in the decision. The Lighthouse was also facing a need to
quickly raise cash because of additional expenses incurred
in paying for what some considered unnecessary and
extravagant expenditures on The Lighthouse headquarters
building on East 59th Street in Manhattan.
The Lighthouse's answer to its cash-flow concerns?
Firing the blind people and selling the land and building in
Long Island City in which they worked.
The employees were given notice and told it was for
their good. This despite the fact that they clearly wanted
to work, and those who had been in charge of the former
Lighthouse facility wanted to continue working as well.
Furthermore, the operation had been generally operating at
break-even or profitable levels.
This was a clear example of how a blindness agency's
pursuit of theoretical ideals can run roughshod over a blind
individual's right to choose what is best for him or her.
Being blind or becoming blind does not--and should not--rob
a human being of the ability to determine where, how, and if
one will work to support oneself.
The Lighthouse workers were very concerned about their
loss of employment and ultimately contacted Jean Mann,
president of the American Council of the Blind of New York,
with their concerns. Jean contacted The Lighthouse, asking
that it reconsider its decision to shut down the
manufacturing operation, but to no avail. Jean then spoke
with Steven Ennis, the president of Industries for the Blind
of New York State, and, with me in my capacity as the vice
chairman of the Board of Industries for the Blind, and--
together with National Industries for the Blind--helped to
form a new organization to employ these displaced blind
workers.
The first meeting with the former Lighthouse employees
was held last fall after work in a modest diner in Queens,
New York, where several of us involved with the new
enterprise tried to give them some hope. We told them of our
plan to start a new shop--from scratch, if necessary--and
told them what we'd done so far to get the shop off the
ground. After listening to different employees tell their
stories, I felt really good knowing that we were trying to
offer them the option of employment rather than
unproductivity and unemployment. I feel good knowing we were
working to give them what they wanted--jobs.
Dr. Barbara Silverstone, CEO of The Lighthouse, Inc.,
promised her board of directors that she would find
competitive employment for all the former Lighthouse
employees. However, employment never materialized for most
of them. Several received training, but that was for jobs
that would have paid them less than they could earn at the
former workshop and with worse hours.
The negotiations with The Lighthouse were really
difficult. Dr. Silverstone apparently felt that her
reputation would be tarnished if a new blind workshop--which
the former Lighthouse employees wanted--were to open and
operate in New York City. Rather than allowing for a smooth
transition of the Lighthouse's former blind employees to a
new workshop employer, The Lighthouse created one obstacle
after another to try to prevent the new workshop from
functioning.
Even though The Lighthouse was shutting down its
workshop and selling the property, it determined not to sell
some essential equipment to New York City Industries for the
Blind that the facility would need to function
appropriately. NYCIB has since purchased some of that
equipment from those to whom The Lighthouse sold it.
New York City Industries for the Blind, Inc., is open
and has already been able to re-hire all the former
Lighthouse employees who wanted employment, plus some
additional people. Last June Jean Mann and I visited the
workshop and were flattered to receive plaques from the
employees thanking us for ACB of New York's help in getting
the workshop off the ground.
Today New York City Industries for the Blind is
celebrating its successful progress as a new employer of
blind people under the dynamic leadership of Rick Bland, the
former Lighthouse workshop director.
The moral is that blind people are no different from
anyone else when it comes to their right to choose how they
will live their lives and that they are willing to fight to
be able to make their own choices. The Lighthouse said that
the only choice these workers had was to give up their jobs
and collect a benefit check--or to accept work in
substandard conditions.
If blind social workers and blind agency executives
have the right to choose where and how they work, why not
blind workers? As one NYCIB employee put it, "Not every
blind person can go to college, but that doesn't mean we
should be told we're not entitled to work."
New York City Industries for the Blind is living proof
that choice is important for every blind person, not just
the chosen few.
That is the article as it appeared in the December,
1996, Braille Forum. And as might be expected, The
Lighthouse was not amused. Under date of January 2, 1997,
Barbara Silverstone wrote to Nolan Crabb, Editor of The
Braille Forum. She said in part:
Recently I received two communications in the same mail
from the American Council of the Blind: the first, a request
for a donation from The Lighthouse to support The Braille
Forum; the second, the December, 1996, issue of The Braille
Forum with an article on page 18 that includes grossly
distorted and incorrect information about The Lighthouse. I
am bewildered that you did not choose to check out the facts
before printing this article...
I am enclosing an article entitled "Facts from The
Lighthouse," which I am requesting be printed in its
entirety in the next issue of The Braille Forum.
So said Barbara Silverstone, and at the time of this
writing (late January) I don't know whether her request will
be granted. Be that as it may, here is the full text of what
she asked the Forum to print:
Facts from The Lighthouse, Inc.
by Barbara Silverstone, President
Donald Moore's article in the December, 1996, issue of
The Braille Forum contains inaccurate information about The
Lighthouse, Inc., and the circumstances surrounding the
reorganization of its career services program over the past
two years. The following FACTS are presented so that the
readers of The Braille Forum can be fully and accurately
informed.
FACT #1. After lengthy study and as part of its
strategic planning, the Lighthouse Board of Directors
decided in the Fall of 1995 to phase out its sheltered
workshop for fifty-seven able-bodied, legally blind workers
in Long Island City and to move its work activity program
for fifty workers who have multiple disabilities to The
Lighthouse facility in Woodside, Queens. Now, one year
later, Lighthouse Industries has been closed, the work
activity program, as an enhanced therapeutic employment
program, is thriving in its new quarters, and Lighthouse
consumer and professional product catalog operations have
been reorganized and expanded under the banner of Lighthouse
Enterprises.
FACT #2. Training and career placement opportunities
were offered to all fifty-seven able-bodied, legally blind
workers. All workers who accepted The Lighthouse's career-
placement assistance have been kept on the payroll until
internships could be provided, and their former salaries
were maintained through their internships. All others
received comprehensive severance or retirement packages.
Each worker made his own choice. A number of workers
declined training and placement assistance and opted to wait
for employment with New York City Industries for the Blind,
which was in formation. Fifteen workers chose retirement.
Four have completed training and/or internships and are now
working in competitive jobs at salaries higher than their
pay at Lighthouse Industries. Eleven other individuals are
in various stages of training for competitive jobs.
FACT #3. The closing of Lighthouse Industries was a
philosophical, not a financial, decision. In short, the
Lighthouse commitment to a philosophy of inclusion in the
workplace for all able-bodied legally blind workers cannot,
and does not, support the sheltered workshop concept.
The Lighthouse subsidized Lighthouse Industries for
many years so that a workshop option could be available for
unemployed, legally blind workers. The Lighthouse decided to
end this subsidy and devote its financial and personnel
resources to career training and placement in competitive
jobs for the following reasons:
- Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and
accompanying increased receptivity of employers.
- Increased job opportunities in the service and
information industries offering better pay and
benefits accrued from working in the mainstream.
- Advances in adaptive computer technology.
- Marked growth in the Lighthouse career training
and placement capacity.
FACT #4. The Lighthouse did consider the desires of
able-bodied legally blind workers--the workers of tomorrow.
Consultations with representatives from all secondary
schools in the New York City area which serve students with
impaired vision, and the job goals expressed by applicants
for placement, revealed that the youth of today are not
interested in workshop employment or workshop training
opportunities.
FACT #5. The demand for competitive employment
opportunities by legally blind adults is increasing, as is
the receptivity of employers. In the last two years
Lighthouse career staff have placed 160 individuals in
competitive employment in a wide range of jobs in the
industrial, service, and office sectors. Only a fourth of
the positions required college preparation. The demand for
training and internships is growing, and The Lighthouse is
expanding its career-training and placement staff. The
Lighthouse also recently opened a customer service training
program at its Queens facility and continues to offer
competitive employment opportunities at its newly opened
Lighthouse Enterprises and in SPECTRUM, The Lighthouse
Store, located in Manhattan.
FACT #6. While Lighthouse Industries had always been
subsidized by The Lighthouse (in FY 1995 the subsidy was
$238,000), it was not closed for financial reasons (i.e., "a
cash flow problem"). The resources of The Lighthouse,
however, are finite, and all programs are examined not only
from a philosophical perspective but in terms of their
outcomes and cost effectiveness. The Lighthouse has chosen
to devote its resources to services for the many hundreds of
visually impaired youth and adults seeking employment in the
competitive marketplace.
FACT #7. The recently renovated Lighthouse headquarters
building in Manhattan was financed by a tax-exempt revenue
bond issued by the New York City Industrial Development
Agency. The bond issue enabled The Lighthouse to protect its
endowment and expand its programs to meet the rehabilitation
and training needs of a growing population of people with
impaired vision.
The new Lighthouse facility is recognized as a national
model of universal accessibility and has tripled the
organization's training and classroom space.
FACT #8. In closing its own sheltered workshop for
able-bodied legally blind workers, the Board of Directors of
The Lighthouse chose to direct its resources to training for
competitive employment and not to subsidize other sheltered
workshops for able-bodied legally blind people.
However, inventory and equipment were sold for
approximately $750,000 to the newly-established sheltered
workshop, New York City Industries for the Blind. As of
January 1, 1997, The Lighthouse is still owed a considerable
amount of money from that sale.
FACT #9. The Lighthouse mission, philosophy, and
advocacy efforts are carried out through regional, national,
and international programs to enable people who are blind or
have partial sight to lead independent and productive lives.
Headquartered in Manhattan, The Lighthouse provides
rehabilitation services to adults and children with impaired
vision through eight regional offices in the greater New
York area. It also offers a broad range of educational
opportunities for the public and health and human service
providers and conducts major research studies on the impact
of vision impairment and its amelioration.
The Lighthouse is a staunch advocate of full inclusion
and equal access for people who are blind and partially
sighted and for full health insurance coverage of basic
vision rehabilitation services.
The Lighthouse is a not-for-profit organization and
depends on support from individuals, foundations,
corporations, government, and the proceeds from Lighthouse
Enterprises, which comprises its catalog operations and
SPECTRUM, The Lighthouse Store.