Confidential records disclosure prohibited; exemptions.

(1) All records furnished to the Division of Blind Services in connection with state or local vocational rehabilitation programs and containing information as to personal facts about applicants or clients given or made available to the state or local vocational rehabilitation agency or its representatives or employees in the course of the administration of the program, including lists of names and addresses and records of evaluations of clients, are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1).

(2) It is unlawful for any person to disclose, authorize the disclosure, solicit, receive, or make use of any list of names and addresses or any record containing any information set forth in subsection (1) and maintained in the division. The prohibition provided for in this subsection shall not apply to the use of such information for purposes directly connected with the administration of the vocational rehabilitation program or with the monthly dispatch to the Division of Motorist Services of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles of the name in full, place and date of birth, sex, social security number, and resident address of individuals with central visual acuity 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, or a disqualifying field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter or visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees. When requested in writing by an applicant or client, or her or his representative, the Division of Blind Services shall release confidential information to the applicant or client or her or his representative.

(3) Any person who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.