On August 14, 2003, Stephen Nasuti, the director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, fired Christine Boone, the blind director of the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services. The firing was supposedly based on charges that Christine Boone was insubordinate, but the real reason is a mixture of skulduggery and bigotry.
Programs for the blind in Pennsylvania, directed by Christine Boone, have shown dramatic increases in effectiveness with a 400% expansion in service delivered to elderly blind Pennsylvanians and a 28% increase in income to blind vendors in the state. Mr. Nasuti, who directs the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, the agency housing the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services, was jealous of the success of Mrs. Boone, who is blind. Furthermore, Mr. Nasuti's management of rehabilitation programs has unnecessarily cost the state many thousands of dollars, and he was seeking someone to blame. He picked Christine Boone, charging her with errors he had committed himself.
Stephen Nasuti disparages employment programs for the blind and fails to promote the teaching of Braille to blind people. He decided that Pennsylvania should adopt a policy to withdraw support from blind college students, who had received merit scholarships, in an amount equal to the scholarships. Christine Boone informed him that such a policy is in violation of federal requirements.
Shortly before he persuaded the Secretary of Labor and Industry to dismiss Christine Boone, Mr. Nasuti informed her that because she is blind she is incapable of management.
The blind of Pennsylvania are outraged at the actions of Stephen Nasuti in dismissing the blind director of services for the blind. Discrimination on the basis of blindness is a violation of the law, and the state rehabilitation program should serve as a model in preventing it. Instead, the director of Vocational Rehabilitation has engaged in discriminatory behavior on the basis of blindness in the very program established to serve the blind.
Last spring a so-called fact-finding investigation occurred in which Christine Boone was charged with negligent management that caused the state the loss of several thousand dollars. A statewide staff-training meeting had been planned. Two business days before the meeting, Stephen Nasuti cancelled it. This cancellation cost the state several thousand dollars. He blamed Christine Boone for the unnecessary expenditure. However, she was not given notice of the charge with an opportunity to collect evidence. She was not given the opportunity to be represented by a lawyer. She was not given the opportunity to prepare evidence for her own defense. Such rights are basic to due process.
Mr. Nasuti has repeatedly said that blind people do not need training. Creating trumpedup charges against the blind director of the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services is Mr. Nasuti's crude way of attempting to destroy programs for the blind in Pennsylvania.
The blind of Pennsylvania need rehabilitation services to live independent lives. The blind demand that the administrators of such programs have faith in their blind customers and have the willingness to fight discriminatory practices. Stephen Nasuti has demonstrated that he has no faith, and he himself has engaged in discrimination.
Judith Jobes
First Vice President,
National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania