The Blind Corps Board
Meet the Blind Corps Board
President Michael Floyd
Michael has worked as a professional in the blindness field, a National Orientation and Mobility Certified Instructor, an advocate for the blind, and a leader in the blind community since 1982. He has served with various service and consumer organizations, and he has worked for state and private agencies for the blind in three states including Nebraska’s internationally renowned rehabilitation program. While practicing now as a Behavioral Health and Addiction Counselor, he keeps his hand in as a White Cane Instructor and consultant on blindness issues. “Among my top priorities and duties in life are to appropriately model a lifestyle that takes blindness concerns in stride and moves on to more important matters.”
Vice President Fatos Floyd
Fatos, blind herself, a graduate of Bosphorus University, Istanbul, Turkey (Bogazici), has a Masters Degree in Counseling from Webster University, and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. She has 25 years of rehabilitation and advocacy experience. For the last twelve years, she has been working as the Director of the Nebraska Orientation and Adjustment Center for the blind. “As a native of Turkey, I believe that it is important to share my knowledge and experience both as a blind individual and as a rehabilitation professional with blind people back in Turkey.”
Treasurer Connie Daly
Connie has provided rehabilitation services to the blind since 1993. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and has completed graduate work in Health Education. Connie has extensive experience providing direct alternative technique instruction, adjustment counseling and placement services to blind individuals. In 1998, she became promoted to the position of Lincoln district supervisor with the Nebraska Commission for the Blind. She is responsible for managing eight staff and directing services to 175-200 blind individuals. She has developed educational programs and materials for employers and other members of the public.
Secretary Nancy Flearl
Nancy currently works for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired where she has been employed for the past 25 years. She has worked as a Rehabilitation Teacher, Counselor and now as a Rehabilitation Supervisor in the Omaha District Office. She holds membership in the National Federation of the Blind, and is a board member for the Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children. “Having had the opportunity to travel to other countries, It is my dream to share the knowledge and skills I have gained to help others around the world to have similar opportunities for skills, confidence, and employment.”
Board Member Robert Leslie Newman
Robert is a 34 year veteran of vocational rehabilitation services to the blind. Blind himself from age 15, he is currently a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and visually impaired. In this capacity, he has amassed years of experience in adjustment counseling, career development, job placement, and instruction of non-visual alternative techniques. Robert is also the creator and author of the blindness related web site “Adjustment to Blindness and Visual Impairment, www.thoughtprovoker.info and the WWW blindness discussion forum, “THOUGHT PROVOKER.”
Board Member Buna Dahal
A dynamic employment trainer and motivational speaker, Buna Dahal, is an expert in teaching people how to think out of the box. She has demonstrated this ability by inspiring her clients to discover new, innovative, creative and empowering experiences.
Buna is highly skilled in marketing persons with different abilities to the business world. In a staffing market where over 70% of the working-age blind and visually impaired remain unemployed, she has maintained an annual placement rate of over 85%. Buna has consistently achieved 100% placement with her work-experience and intern clients annually. While working as the Employment Specialist for the Colorado Center for the Blind she cultivated an average of 48 employer relations per year since 2000. She has successfully planned, organized and delivered a wide range of training sessions, workshops, seminars and job fairs both locally and nationally. Throughout her years of creating job-readiness curricula, networking events, and staff development programs, Buna has always focused on developing long-term relationships with the hiring authorities and prospective employers. She has well established relationships with Workforce Investment One-Stop Centers.
Born and raised in Nepal, Buna has been Blind since birth. At 18 she was awarded a scholarship to study in the United States.
At an early age Buna realized that she had a dream… not just to survive but to live. She had a desire to spread her wings because she knew there is much more in life than just existing. Today she fully lives her life with confidence and competence by inspiring others across the globe.
The national and international media has published numerous articles and interviews touching upon her personal and professional success. Buna was invited to present an empowering speech at the United Nations in 2007. In 2006, when Buna went home to visit her family for the first time in 16 years, Nepal Television and Kantipoor Television interviewed her. For promoting literacy she was recognized as a community leader by the City of Littleton, Colorado during the 2004 National Library of the Month celebration. MSNBC hailed Buna Dahal as a “Young Inspirational Leader” in a nationally broadcast interview in 2000.
Buna believes, “Retaining the job requires more creativity than obtaining a job.”