Vocational Rehabilitation for Persons with Physical and Mental Disabilities

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program helps people who have physical or mental disabilities prepare for, find or keep employment. Gaining skills needed for a career, learning how to prepare for a job interview or getting the accommodations needed to stay employed are just a few of the ways this program helps people with disabilities increase productivity and independence.

The counselor and consumer work together to:

decide on an employment goal, and
develop a program of vocational rehabilitation services to achieve the goal.

The Vocational Rehabilitation Program serves people with a wide variety of disabilities, e.g.:

mental illness,
hearing impairment,
impaired functioning of arms or legs,
back injury,
alcoholism or drug addiction,
mental retardation,
learning disability,
traumatic brain injury and
other physical or mental disabilities that prevent the person from finding and keeping a job.

You can read more about the application process and eligibility requirements in the Vocational Rehabilitation Program: A Guide for Applicants (in English) and Una Guía Para los Solicitantes (en Español). The guide is best read with the free Adobe Reader 7.0 for optimal accessibility.

Services are provided based on individual needs. Some of these services are:

medical, psychological and vocational evaluation to determine the nature and degree of the disability and the consumer's job capabilities,
counseling and guidance to help the consumer and family plan vocational goals and adjust to the working world,
training to learn job skills in trade school, college, university, on the job or at home,
hearing examinations, hearing aids and other communication equipment, aural rehabilitation and interpreter services for the deaf and hearing impaired,
medical treatment and/or therapy to lessen or remove the disability,
assistive devices such as artificial limbs, braces, and wheelchairs to stabilize or improve functioning on the job or at home,
rehabilitation technology devices and services to improve job functioning,
training in appropriate work behaviors and other skills to meet employer expectations,
job placement assistance to find jobs compatible with the person's physical and mental ability, and
follow-up after job placement to ensure job success.

Consistent with the primary purpose of the program, Vocational Rehabilitation services also contribute to the support of persons with disabilities in the community as well as support their movement from nursing homes and institutions to community-based settings.

A person is eligible if:

the person has a disability which results in substantial problems in obtaining employment;
vocational rehabilitation services from DRS are required by that person to prepare for, get or keep a job and
the person is able to get or keep a job after receiving services.

Services will be determined through informed consumer choice, that is, after providing information about options and alternatives. Please note that consumers can be served by only one DRS program at a time.