I am not sure if VA will ever get its act together. I am looking at Section 508 signed into law almost 50 years ago and some of VA’s “systems” are still in progress on implementation. Some of the numbers are astounding. One system was 32% compliant. 

I have not used WebEx but they all should be using Zoom.

Ron

http://www.conceptscommunications.com/team/ronald-drach/

On Apr 11, 2022, at 7:11 PM, Steve Sterry <steve.sterry@...> wrote:



I am not disagreeing with you or Mr. Black.  I am just suggesting a possible solution until the VA gets their act together.  I also suggested to him that he file a complaint with either the EEOC or even with his VA's local EE officer.  Several years ago, the Long Beach VA Dental Clinic was having problems with faux service dogs disrupting their exams and treatments.  It got so bad that a dentist was finally bitten by one of the fake service dogs.  So, they declared the exam rooms to be operatories and prohibited all dogs, even legitimate service dogs like mine.

I contacted the local EE Officer at Long Beach, and she agreed with me that there was no reason service dogs should be excluded from the examining and treatment rooms.  While she worked to have the new policy changed, she became the puppy sitter for my Canine Companion Hearing Dog, Montera, during my dental subsequent appointments.  Six months later, service dogs were welcome back into the dental exam and treatment rooms.

One unexpected result from this was that Voluntary Services constructed kennels for the use of veterans with pets.  However, despite the fact that the kennels were built, the pet care program was never approved.  

While I suggested to Mr. Black that he contact either the EEOC or his VA's EE Officer to file a complaint, he seems to feel that others should do that work for him.  And, as we both know, the VA does not always follow its own laws or policies.  And, sometimes it requires that we invest our own time and energy into changing things.

 

Steven C. Sterry, M.A./M.B.A.

10149 Grayling AV. – Whittier, CA  90603-2608

Phone (562) 947-2258

Email: steve.sterry@...

 

On Mon, Apr 11, 2022 at 3:45 PM Ronald Drach via hlaagroups.hearingloss.org <consultrwd=yahoo.com@...> wrote:

Thanks! I didn’t know that but I agree with Mr. Black.

I recently had an Audiolgy appointment with my private audiologist. I was able to get my last exam directly from my VA Audiologist who is phenomenal.

Shouldn’t have to do that. We should be able to access it ourself.

Ron

http://www.conceptscommunications.com/team/ronald-drach/

On Apr 11, 2022, at 6:38 PM, Steve Sterry <steve.sterry@...> wrote:



Ron:

The complaint that Mr. Black has is that he cannot get his audiograms on the VA Premium system files.  I checked my own audio appointments on  my VA Blue Ribbon Reports and found that, although the audiograms were not graphically reproduced, my own audiologists in Long Beach published the plot points so that any audiologist outside the VA could reconstruct my audiograms.  I emailed Mr. Black to let him know about this, but his response was that he should be able to get the audiograms themselves.  

 

Steven C. Sterry, M.A./M.B.A.

10149 Grayling AV. – Whittier, CA  90603-2608

Phone (562) 947-2258

Email: steve.sterry@...

 

On Mon, Apr 11, 2022 at 1:14 PM Ronald Drach via hlaagroups.hearingloss.org <consultrwd=yahoo.com@...> wrote:

I have a meeting Wednesday morning with staff for the Senate Committee on Aging re: VA’s shortfall on compliance with Section 508 of the Rehab Act.

Some of you have significant more experience/knowledge on these issues than I do so I am requesting your input as to some issues you are aware of and perhaps willing to talk about.

I don’t know HLAA’s thoughts but I would like to offer them an opportunity to meet with us next week so they could have a more direct interchange of info with those of you willing to talk with them.

A few issues I plan on bringing up include:

Access to audiology medical exam results (I know some of you have mentioned that and I have had that problem)

Loop - I know nothing about this except how to spell it

I know there has been some chatter on other issues but don’t recall them now.

Did we ever decide on the survey? Maybe we can discuss possible questions from them for a survey.

For this meeting I will speak only for myself and no one else.

Let me know what you think and Carla please let me know HLAA’s position on inviting them and/or working with them to perhaps doing a survey for them.

See you all next week.

Ron

http://www.conceptscommunications.com/team/ronald-drach/