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// November 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Disabled World, an online news magazine featuring articles related to disabled persons around the world, recently reported that the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University have decided not to adopt the Kindle DX electronic book reader to replace school textbooks. Pamela McLaughlin, director of communications and external relations at Syracuse University stated that, “At this time… we have no plans to purchase any more of these units in light of the fact that they are inaccessible to blind students.” Ken Frazier, the Syracuse University’s director of libraries, said that the Amazon Kindle DX “missed the mark. It is relatively easy to envision an improved e-book reading device that meets the needs of the entire university community.

Such a device would include universal design for accessibility, higher-quality graphics, and improved navigation and note-taking.”

Did you catch that one as well? That’s right, Syracuse University believes that in order to replace their regular hardback books with electronic books, they must first be more accessible to the blind… by featuring “higher-quality graphics!”

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, praised the universities’ decisions since the Kindle “cannot be used by blind students and therefore denies the blind equal access to electronic textbooks.”

So what happens when the Kindle does have a full audio navigation system that allows blind students to easily select books and have the books read to them through the Kindle’s text-to-speech feature; will these universities then begin using the Kindles? I think not. After all, the disabled students who are paralyzed and cannot use their hands also deserve equal access to ebook readers, do they not? Yes, so Amazon also needs to include a microphone jack so quadriplegics can navigate Kindle’s interface using their voice; or perhaps it will include a camera to follow the student’s eye movements.

As you can see, there will never be a truly “universal” device that can be accessed by everyone, and why should there be? After all, the universities aren’t requiring that all of their textbooks include braille alongside the written text, are they? Of course not; that would be an absurd waste of money. So why is it that while many schools and universities are under pressure to tighten their budgets, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University are ignoring a way to reduce their textbooks costs across the board? Here’s a shocking plan: purchase the Kindles for your students with vision, and continue to purchase the braille books for your blind students, just like you always have been. Or would it be wrong for some people to use cool technology if everyone can’t use it?

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the image featured here is from a protest staged by the National Federation of the Blind against the Author’s Guild. The text-to-speech feature of the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX has been criticised by the Author’s Guild because they say the feature cuts into the profits of audiobook sales. What is so odd about this protest, is that according to the National Fderation of the Blind’s own President Marc Maurer, the Kindle is not supposed to be accessible to blind people, remember? That’s why he was in favor of two universities’ decisions not to use Kindles for textbooks.

Also, it should be noted that while many of those protesters were blind, none of the signs they were holding were accessible to the blind. There is no word yet if the NFB is planning a protest of their own protest.

// November 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Here is a picture of what free range chickens choose to do, when given free will. Oh, and in case you were fooled, the USDA has NO standard of what a free range chicken egg means. In fact, many farmers choose to call their eggs “free range” simply because the chickens have a little more room than average in their cages.

// August 30th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Uncategorized

For many, the Quote-of-the-Week feature of this website has been a cherished tradition, for others, a beloved pastime. Still others find the Quotes-of-the-Week to be a stroke of genius unmatched by any predecessors of human philosophy. Therefore, it is with great trepidation that I announce the discontinuation of the Quote-of-the-Week feature. But before you take up arms against a sea of trouble, let me make an offering of this immense chunk of consolation to you; any new quotes, while not heralded on the main page, will still be shared with all visitors in the Quotes section of this website. So, if you’ve been MIA for a while, or you make varpness.com a daily routine, please click the link entitled “Quotes” at the top of the page in order to access my weekly brilliance.

// July 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Last week State Senator Majority Leader Dean Florez convinced the Board of Central Valley Regional Center to take back $500,000 in one-time salary adjustments given to employees and instead turn the money over to Senator Florez and the State general fund. While it has only been a week since these events first transpired, Senator Florez has not yet made any statements about his progress in actually getting the money back, nor on his promise to try and get the secured funds earmarked for services to the disabled community. Meanwhile, a more concerning issue has surfaced regarding four millions dollars that was given to employees of Clovis Unified School District for the same reason CVRC employees were given their salary adjustments.

On May 25, Marc Benjamin of the Fresno Bee reported that nearly $4,000,000 was given to employees of Clovis Unified School District, almost 8 times as much money as CVRC’s $500,000. The reason for the bonuses, according to the Fresno Bee, was “frugality.” CUSD was able to cut their self-funded insurance costs and therefore issued a one-time, 2% reward. Essentially, CUSD was able to use their money responsibly, had money left over, and decided to give the extra money to employees rather than return the funds to the State, just like Central Valley Regional Center did.

Strangely, two months later, Senator Florez has yet to make any public statement regarding this discrepancy, but he needs to decide soon. Either all leftover money originating from tax paid services should be sent back to the general fund, and Senator Florez needs to demand four million dollars from Clovis Unified, or private organizations and school districts that are responsible with their money should be allowed to use the excess funds the way they see fit, and Senator Florez owes the Board of CVRC and director Robert Riddick an apology. If Senator Florez hopes to win the Lieutenant Governor position next year, he will need to be consistent in his positions, and now is a good time to straighten out his views on excess funds in private and State organizations.

As a thank you for interviewing me the other day, I offered this information to Barbara Anderson of the Fresno Bee on July 11th, but I have yet to receive a response from her or find any follow up stories in the Bee.

(Matthew Varpness is a local educator and committed volunteer in this community.)

// July 10th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Rejoinder

Even while a growing number of people in the Central Valley are becoming outraged over Senator Florez’ campaign to take CVRC employees’ salaries, there are still a few individuals that have some misguided ideas about the one-time salary adjustments that were issued a few weeks ago. While many parents and family members of CVRC clients are saying things like, “I am so sorry to see that this is happening to such a good agency,” and, “They deserved their bonuses,” others are still not so sure. Hopefully by the end of this article, we can all come to a better understanding of how regional centers work, and be better educated when sharing our ideas publicly.

It has been suggested that CVRC should have send the $500,000 in surplus funds to the State, alleging these were taxpayer funds. Again, this information is incorrect. The excess funds don’t belong to taxpayers any more than Senator Florez’ saving account funds belong to the taxpayers. The State made a contracted agreement to pay the privately owned CVRC a specific amount to perform their job, and while other regional centers in California failed to manage their money appropriately, CVRC made the necessary operations adjustments to provide their promised, contracted services within their budget. Other regional centers are actually having to go back to the State to request additional money, due to their irresponsible management of what they were paid. Senator Florez should consider contacting CVRC director Robert Riddick and the Board and asking them to provide insight and training on how to manage a regional center in a fiscally responsible manner. In a time when so many companies are failing, isn’t is refreshing to see one that does their job for the agree-upon price?

Another misconception a few people have is in regards to the State cutting dental, vision, and podiatry services to disabled adults. This was a decision that California lawmakers made, including Senator Dean Florez; so CVRC has no way of providing those services, even with the paltry $500,000 left over from the operations budget. Unfortunately, the CVRC operations budget is completely separate from their budget to provide services, so it is actually illegal for CVRC to use that $500,000 for anything other than operations, including payment of staff members who made sacrifices in order to stay within their means.

Finally, there is a great deal of ignorance concerning the Board of Directors for CVRC. They have been called imbeciles, lacking in foresight, and described in other negative and invalid ways. Two facts should help educate everyone with an opinion of the board members, and resolve this argument once and for all. The Board did not vote to give themselves any of the $500,000 in salary adjustments. They voted to award the money to case managers who have had to take on the workload of 17 vacant positions that have not been filled. They voted to award the money to employees who have not been allowed to claim any overtime pay, despite the fact that they have taken on much more responsibility with, before now, absolutely no additional compensation. The Board voted to award the money to people who did everything asked of them in order to fulfill their State contract without begging for more money. One uninformed individual said that the board members don’t know what clients and vendors are going through; yes they do. CVRC’s Board of Directors and committees are made up of clients, parents, vendors, and community leaders and absolutely know what clients and vendors are going through. This is not something being reported in local papers for some reason, but the Board and committees are actually comprised of the very vendors and clients that CVRC services. You cannot get much more ethical than this. The Board knows what vendors and clients are going through and they also know what CVRC employees are going through and have gone through in order to be fully responsible with the money taxpayers paid them to perform a valuable service to our community.

(Matthew Varpness is a local educator who hopes this article will help others come to ethical, sound conclusions based on logical thought.)