Author Archives: Peter Sanford Kahrmann

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About Peter Sanford Kahrmann

Writer, disability rights advocate, civil rights advocate.

Time to say goodbye to BIANYS’ Avner

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Until and unless the board of the Brain Injury Association of NY State takes action, BIANYS will remain an insular presence controlled by a dictatorial executive director who should resign or be fired.

It seems clear that executive director Judith Avner has no real interest in truly interacting with or listening to BIANYS members, including those of us who live with brain injuries. She  shuts down  any and all attempts to improve transparency, maintains a dictatorial grip on the BIANYS board, website, Facebook page,  and newsletter, and has the board president marching to her orders. However, Ms. Avner is all too happy to ask anyone and everyone to donate money, appear at fundraisers, and have her picture taken with any and all celebrities who support BIANYS, mistakenly thinking BIANYS does what Ms. Avner says it does. I suspect it is safe to assume Ms. Avner is diligent about accepting her roughly $2,000 a week paycheck.

Save for its remaining valiant support group facilitators (volunteers all) and a small group of underpaid staff, most of whom are equally valiant in their work with those who sustained brain injuries in their youth, not as adults,  BIANYS has become little more than window dressing thanks to Ms. Avner, a seemingly anemic board, and a cluster of sycophants.

It’s hard enough managing life with a brain injury. It’s even harder when those who claim to care about you and say they advocate for you do anything but care and advocate, unless, of course, you count lip service. 

Over the past few weeks several BIANYS members and former BIANYS board members have been involved in series of email exchanges with BIANYS seeking answers to several questions and offering to help, not hurt, BIANYS, if, in fact, the answers are not all one would hope they’d be. While Ms. Avner will say all the things one would hope to hear at fundraisers and  BIANYS conferences, she refuses to even respond to any of the emails, some of which asked BIANYS to create an online forum for open discussion, whether that be a message board or the discussion component of their FB page.

Instead, the task of responding was given to Marie Cavallo, the BIANYS board president, a volunteer. As one person who read the email exchanges observed: “It looks like Marie’s lost her mojo.” Ms. Cavallo said BIANYS rejected the notion of a message board because it would be too time consuming. She said BIANYS rejected opening the FB page to discussion because, she claimed, healthcare providers had used the page to tout their wares. When it was pointed out that FB allows one to block companies and individuals, the next excuse she offered for nixing the FB idea was it’s too time consuming. Then, in what gave us all a flutter of hope, she said she would talk with BIANYS staff about opening the FB page (One wonders why it’s the board president and not the executive director talking with staff when the executive director is their supervisor. Perhaps Ms. Avner doesn’t have time for staff either.). Since then Ms. Cavallo has chosen to walk in lockstep with Ms. Avner and has ignored our emails and, needless to say, their FB page is still closed to discussion.

You may be wondering what were the questions we asked. Here’s a taste: Can you tell us how BIANYS informs its membership what it is advocating for? How does BIANYS decide what it will advocate for and how does BIANYS include its members in the discussion? (At one point Ms. Cavallo pointed out that BIANYS issues an annual report and publishes newsletters on its website. All true. But you’ve got a better chance of finding a needle in the Sahara desert than you do of finding word-one about BIANYS’ advocacy in the annuals reports or newsletters). We also asked how many person with a brain injury does BIANYS currently employ and how many has BIANYS employed since Ms. Avner took the helm on or about 1987. No answer.

Lest you think any of us are out to do anything other than hold BIANYS accountable let me say that in our emails we offered to help and support BIANYS in identifying individuals with brain injuries for employment and issues of advocacy. No response.

Lastly (for now), there are times the choices we make in life reveal our true colors. Several years ago when I was on the BIANYS board a fellow board member died. This board member, like me lived with a brain injury and had been in poor health for some time. However, poor health or not,  this person’s heartfelt commitment to BIANYS and devotion to those of us who live with brain injuries and our loves ones was unflinching. Had anyone on that board suffered a calamity in his or her life this person, poor health or not, would be there for them come hell or high water. Yet, when this good and decent human being left this world, Ms. Avner and Ms. Cavallo were no shows at the memorial service.

And then there’s this. At the first board meeting following this person’s death, Ms. Cavallo announced that Ms. Avner (who was sitting next to her) had been in frequent contact with the board member’s family and the family was doing well. Not long after this, I had the chance to have coffee with two members of the family (the board member’s spouse and child). I said I was glad Ms. Avner had been staying in touch with them. Both looked stunned. Ms. Avner had never called them, not even once.

Like I said at the outset, until and unless the board of the Brain Injury Association of NY State takes action, BIANYS will remain an insular presence controlled by a dictatorial executive director who should resign or be fired.

How do you sleep at night?

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I need to put two things on this essay’s table in order to, I hope, make my point.

First. When I was a boy I complained to my father about a cliché, I don’t remember the cliché in question, what I do remember was my father’s thoughtful and accurate response. “Well, there’s a reason they become clichés.” He was and is right.

Second. I used to believe as I think many do that if you were able to factually establish that a behavior, a policy, a method, a strategy, would actually hurt innocent people, people would automatically care. Wrong. A sickening truth about some people is they simply don’t care. Even when you establish that, for, lack of a better phrase, their actions will hurt others, they still don’t care.

Okay, you may be wondering what it is that has me thinking about all this. Two things, really. An aspect of the presidential race and some who claim to care about those of us with brain injuries and it is becoming increasingly apparent they don’t.

When it comes to the  presidential race it is the blatant lying being done by the Romney-Ryan ticket that falls under the microscope of this missive. If they are elected and if they do what they say they will do and have done in the past the rights of women in my country will be, in a word, decimated. On top of that, millions will lose their health insurance and Romney’s assertion that we don’t let the uninsured die in our country because they can go to the emergency rooms is a lie, a flat out lie. He and those in his circle know damn well people will die if the affordable care act is  reversed. They don’t care.

And when Romney and Ryan say they support equal rights for women, they are, once again, lying. To lift a cliché into the light, actions speak louder than words. Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women fight for equal pay for equal work; he voted for a bill tagged as the “Let Women Die Bill”  that would allow hospitals to refuse abortion care even if the mother’s life was in immediate danger and he co-sponsored a bill that would deny rape victims on Medicaid access to abortion. Romney’s no better. After all, he picked Ryan as his running mate (safe to assume he agrees with him) and, while governor of Massachusetts, Romney vetoed a bill giving rape survivors access to emergency contraception (to it’s credit, the Massachusetts legislature overrode the veto).

So, if you think Romney and Ryan support women’s civil rights, you’re either delusional, gullible beyond comprehension, or, like Romney and Ryan, you’re lying and you know it, and, like Romney and Ryan, you don’t care either.

Now, brain injuries. For several weeks now members of the Brain Injury Association of NY State as well as former BIANYS board members have been in an email exchange with BIANYS seeking answers to some incredibly reasonable questions. Now, the two people at the top of the BIANYS food chain, as it were, are Marie Cavallo, the board president, and Judith Avner, the executive director. Let me quickly point out that is has been made clear that Ms. Avner will communicate with us in this email discussion (how does she earn her roughly $2,000 a week salary I wonder?).

The questions we are asking?  Well, judge for yourself.

1) How many people with brain injuries does BIANYS employ and how many have been employed since Ms. Avner  took the helm in the late 1980s. No answer.

2) How do you (BIANYS) decide what you are advocating for or against, how do you let membership know, and how do you solicit membership’s input? Ms. Cavallo referred us to their annual reports and newsletters but these questions are not answered in either, not even close. We pointed this out and they responded with…no answer.

3) Ms Cavallo said the reason she, not Ms. Avner, is talking with us, is because she represents BIANYS. And so we asked another reasonable question. If we, as BIANYS members are not part of BIANYS, then are we, the very people she and Ms. Avner claim to care about so much, merely an outside entity? Does BIANYS sees its members as something separate and apart from, well, BIANYS? If so, we asked Ms. Cavallo, who exactly is she representing?  No answer.

The point is you can’t tromp around the state asking everyone and anyone for money because you say you care about us and are on our side and then when we have questions ignore us and simply hope we’ll go away (we won’t) and expect us to believe you actually do care.

All this brings me to the cliché that is the title of this essay, a cliché that appropriately applies to the likes of Romney and Ryan and Avner and Cavallo. How do you sleep at night?

 

 

Working against Hypocrisy in NY State

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T.S. Elliot was right when he said: “There’s no greater heresy than to do the right thing for the wrong reasons.”

In the world of advocacy there is no greater heresy than hypocrisy, especially when it comes from those who say the right things for the wrong reasons, self-aggrandizement and the ability to feel powerful. There is also no greater heresy than those who, when asked for the specifics of their decisions and actions, engage in double talk, spin, or, in some cases, simply say nothing.

And so it is that I and others have been emailing with the Brain Injury Association of NY State in the hopes BIANYS will, for the first time in this writer’s memory, permit an open-dialogue forum online for its members. This is something quite a few members (including former BIANYS board members) have asked for. The request  was prompted by the fact that a long-term BIANYS member with a brain injury resigned as a BIANYS support group facilitator in part because BIANYS leadership, he explained, might hear that those of us with brain injuries are talking but they don’t really listen to what we are saying.

There is no argument that communication could use some improvement, not just between the members and BIANYS leadership, but among members statewide.

Thus far we have suggest an online message board. BIANYS, represented in the email exchanges by its board president, Marie Cavallo, said they don’t have time for a message board but would consider it in the future. It was then suggested that BIANYS open its Facebook pages so those who “like” the page can initiate comments and communicated with each other. At first the answer to this was no because, Ms. Cavallo explained, in the past providers has used an open FB format to advertise. It was pointed out the FB permits the user to block those that abuse the page. Ms. Cavallo  then said opening the FB was a possibility but there was concern doing so would be a drain on staff’s time.  BIA from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and many others have open FB pages.

Transparency, an openness to communication and sensitivity to membership are critical components to any advocacy organization.

It is important to note that Judith Avner, the executive director of BIANYS, won’t take part in these discussions. At one point Ms. Cavallo explained this is because she, as president, represents BIANYS, but to whom? To its members? Are the members really seen as being separate from the organization? An unsettling notion at best. After all, Ms. Avner speaks at numerous conferences, fund raisers, speaks to the board, but, not, it seems, to the members. BIANYS financial statements reveal Ms. Avner is paid roughly $2,000 a week.

I don’t envy Ms. Cavallo her position. In all the years I’ve known her it is clear to me she has a good heart and genuinely cares. The question is, has she found herself in the position of, when it comes down to it, representing Ms. Avner.

We’ve asked other questions as well and are looking forward to the answers. Two of them are:

  • How many persons with a brain injury does BIANYS currently employ and how many persons with a brain injury has BIANYS employed since Ms. Avner took the helm on or about 1987?
  • What is BIANYS specifically advocating for or against, how are members and the public informed of these specifics, and how are the members included in determining advocacy issues?

Not answering the questions couple with an executive director who refuses to take part in the discussion carries the bitter taste of hypocrisy.

Let’s hope the answers come soon so we can all work together.

Mccooey & Feeney Now Targeting Children

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If you’re looking for integrity and honesty in business leadership you’d be well advised to avoid the likes of John Mccooey and Timothy J. Feeney. If you’re looking for honesty and integrity in healthcare, healthcare for your children, then, when it comes to Feeney and Mccooey you might want to crawl under a rock. Wait, better not. Under a rock is exactly where you’re likely to find Mccooey and Feeney. They head-up an Albany-based company called  OB2L (Overcoming Barriers to Learning) .

Readers of this blog know that in 2008 this writer revealed that Timothy J. Feeney had for years misrepresented his education credentials to all comers. While Feeney has a legitimate bachelor’s degree, his so-called masters and PhD were issued by a now defunct diploma mill called Greenwich University that operated on Norfolk island off the coast of Australia before closing its doors. GU was a non-accredited diploma mill whose degrees have never been recognized as valid anywhere on planet earth. The Australian government issued an alert about GU.

None of this has stopped Mccooey and Feeney from joining forces and targeting children with disabilities on a website that lists Feeney as Timothy J. Feeney, PhD. Both Mccooey and Feeney know this claim is untrue but that hasn’t stopped them from targeting children with autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse issues, mental illness, ADHD and reactive attachment disorder.

What’s equally curious and deeply disturbing is the website’s claim that this company has worked with 130 school districts around the world.

Will they get away with it? We’ll see. New York State only offers title protection, meaning one can’t claim to be a social worker, doctor, psychologist, or psychiatrist without the necessary degrees from accredited institutions. My guess is the Feeney-Mccooey duo is trying to thread the needle by saying the former has a PhD. We’ll see how far it gets them.

One last note. When I met Mccooey in 2001 he told me that at one time in his life he was thinking of becoming a monk. I suspect there are at least two reasons he did not pursue this.  You can’t live a life revolving around making money and shoring up a fragile ego as a monk and, in order to be a monk, you have to be in possession of a conscience.

Twenty-Eight Years Ago Today

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Twenty-eight years ago today I was held-up on my way to pick up my cab and shot in the head at point blank range. The bullet remains lodged in the frontal lobe of my brain. This is not a depressing day for me, not at all. In fact, as others who have survived similar moments have said, today is a second birthday of sorts.

What is worth noting is that it would be 10 years after the shooting before I would hear the words, brain damage. My experience is not unique. I know people with brain injuries all over this country and many went years before hearing the words brain injury, traumatic brain injury, TBI. Many of us were left to deal with the effects of brain damage not knowing that brain damage was the force behind the problems we were grappling with. We were, in  a sense, managing life blind folded, hands tied behind our back. We did our best, but it is hard to be successful when you don’t know or don’t understand what it is you’re up against.

All this is why it is so important for any state with a brain injury program to make sure those who design an implement the program have a solid working knowledge of the brain.

But this is not my reason for writing this today. My reason for writing this today is to share some thoughts with you. There is little doubt in my mind that you too have faced or are facing challenges that feel as if they have total control over every aspect of your life. I am here to tell you they don’t. They really, really don’t. The truth-telling, right-sizing equation goes like this; because something feels like it has total control doesn’t mean it has total control. It simply means it feels that way.

Believe me, there were times the damage to my brain felt all powerful. There were times too that the idea of returning to life after the combined experience of some kid put a gun to my head and firing and then another guy puts a gun to my head less than nine months later had so much power I did not step foot out of my house for nearly a year.  Were it not for some close friends who were my neighbors at 286 East 2nd Street in NYC, I don’t know how I would have stayed clothed and fed. In time, and with treatment, and the support and love of close friends, I began to reclaim my life and leave the house. 

And then there is this, you have a relationship with life and all the elements that come with life. I have a relationship with my brain injury. I have a relationship with the the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that is, today, my number one opponent. There are still days I can’t get myself to leave the house. The point is, these relationships are no different than relationships  between two people. They can be healthy or unhealthy. The challenge is this. Don’t let the elements of life that look to impeded your freedom to be you of have decision making power. Relieve them of decision making power every chance you get. There may be times you can’t. Okay. Relax. Don’t worry. Get some sleep, wake up the next day,  do your best.

The last thing these life-impeding elements deserve is to be behind the wheel of your life. That is your rightful place.

Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself. Remember to live.