SECTIONS 19500-19507 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 19500-19507

19500. The department may establish orientation centers for the
blind in such locations as may be deemed necessary to provide on a
statewide basis the services to be rendered by orientation centers as
provided in this article. Such orientation centers as may be
established shall be under the jurisdiction and supervision of the
department and shall be administered by the Director of
Rehabilitation in accordance with the provisions of this article. The
department shall make and promulgate such rules and regulations as
are necessary for the administration of such orientation centers in
accordance with the provisions of this article.

19501. Each orientation center established under Sections 19500 to
19506, inclusive, shall be residential in character. Blind persons
shall be admitted as residents and trainees in an intensive program
designed for maximum vocational and personal rehabilitation and for
the preparation of blind persons for useful and remunerative work in
trades, professions, private business, private industry, or public
service.

19502. Orientation centers shall provide for short periods of
intensive personal and prevocational orientation for blind persons,
and for specific vocational training. The program of orientation
centers shall include such training as techniques of daily living,
techniques of travel, physical conditioning, sensory training,
instruction in braille, instruction in skills for the handicapped,
typing, and business principles and methods, and shall provide for
social and vocational diagnostic testing and individual counseling.

19503. The Director of Rehabilitation shall appoint an
administrator for each orientation center for the blind who shall
administer and supervise the program at the center in accordance with
this article and under the supervision of the Director of
Rehabilitation. The administrator of each orientation center for the
blind shall be either a sighted or visually handicapped person and
shall have all of the following minimum qualifications:
(a) Four years of full time, paid experience working in a program
for the education or rehabilitation of adults who are legally blind,
with emphasis on nonvisual living techniques, including, but not
limited to, daily living, mobility, and communication skills. At
least two years' experience shall have been in a supervisory or
administrative capacity.
(b) Proficiency in Braille as a second language.
(c) Education equivalent to graduation from college with a
bachelor's degree. Additional qualifying experience may be
substituted on a year-for-year basis.

19504. The staff of an orientation center shall be composed of
persons trained to assist blind persons in achieving social and
economic independence, and whose qualifications include successful
experience in teaching blind persons. The staff shall include as
large a proportion as is practicable of visually handicapped persons
who have achieved outstanding success in adjustment to their
handicap.

19505. Each orientation center shall be operated as a unit separate
and apart from any state-operated rehabilitation facility. The
program of each orientation center shall be closely coordinated with
the services of the department, with the home teacher and field
service program, and with programs for training teachers and other
personnel directed toward serving the blind.

19506. The department may:
(a) Make rules for the government and direction of orientation
centers established under this article, and may prescribe conditions
for the admission and discharge of trainees having regard to an
equitable representation from each county of the state.
(b) Designate the subjects which shall be regularly taught and the
training which shall be given.

19507. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the department,
in accordance with Section 19007, is the authorized recipient of
gifts, bequests, and donations made to the department or to a school
or institution administered by the department.
(b) There is, within the State Treasury, the Orientation Center
for the Blind Trust Fund, which is hereby continuously appropriated,
without regard to fiscal years, to the department for allocation to
the Orientation Center for the Blind exclusively for the purposes
specified in subdivision (c).
(c) (1) Moneys in the Orientation Center for the Blind Trust Fund
shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, funding of services
provided by the department, and shall be utilized only in accordance
with the terms and conditions of the gifts or donations made to the
fund and for the sole purpose of the betterment of the students of
the program at the Orientation Center for the Blind.
(2) The department shall consult with the Orientation Center for
the Blind Trust Fund Committee, which shall be created by the
director, concerning the use of moneys in the fund.
(3) The Orientation Center for the Blind Trust Fund Committee
shall be composed of three members, all of whom shall be graduates of
the Orientation Center for the Blind. The director shall consider
for appointment to the committee individuals who are members of
groups of advocates for the blind. No more than one member of any
group shall be appointed, and appointment shall be from a list of at
least two nominees submitted by the group. The director shall appoint
one member to be an at-large representative.