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Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Home Page
Doing our Best For the Nation's
Best - A National Commitment
Vocational Rehabilitation is a program for
service members and veterans with service-connected
disabilities. Often, these individuals experience
limitations in getting and keeping a job as well as in
their daily activities. The program can:
Vocational rehabilitation is also a facilitative
process enabling a veteran with a service-connected
disabling condition to attain usefulness and satisfaction
in life. More than anything else, vocational
rehabilitation is intended to help veterans to know and
use their assets.
History
Almost 80 years ago,
the United States adopted a national policy of providing
vocational rehabilitation services to veterans and
civilians whose capacity to work was reduced by
disability. The development of the vocational
rehabilitation movement in the United States for veterans
was fostered by democratic assumptions basic to our
Republic. First, independent and productive citizens
strengthen the nation. Second, veterans, whose
capacity to be independent and productive is reduced due
to injury while serving the nation in the military forces,
are entitled to compensation and vocational rehabilitation
services to obtain and maintain independence and
vocational productivity. It is entitlement provided
for service to our nation. Furthermore, it is in the
best interest of the nation.
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Service Provided
The program provides
an evaluation to determine entitlement and to provide a
basis for vocational planning services or the planning of
a program of independent living services. These
services may include:
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Educational,
vocational, psychological, employment, and personal
adjustment counseling.
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Educational or
vocational training
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An allowance
while receiving training services
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A work-study
allowance
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Placement
services
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Personal
adjustment training
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If needed, other
services and required assistance including tutorial
assistance, tuition, books, fees, supplies, handling
charges, licensing fees and equipment and other
training materials necessary
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Emergency
Medical and dental treatment, including prosthetics
appliances, eyeglasses, and other corrective
devices, as authorized by the Veterans
Health Administration
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Eligibility
Requirements
You may qualify for
services if you meet all of the following
conditions:
1. You have a
VA compensable service-connected disability rating as a
result of active military service on or after September
16, 1940.
2. You have
received a discharge or release from active duty within
sixty days under other than dishonorable
conditions.
3. You need
rehabilitation service because you have an employment
handicap.
4. Your
period of eligibility has not expired, or can be
waived.
If you are interested
and would like a counseling appointment, please contact
your nearest VA office and complete VA Form
28-1900, Disabled Veterans Applications for Vocational
Rehabilitation.
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Local Initiatives
The New York Regional
Office, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation &
Employment (VR&E, has established satellite access
points, by co-locating the New York Regional Office staff
at the office of the Nassau and Suffolk County Veterans
Services Agencies, to provide comprehensive vocational
rehabilitation services to disabled veterans who reside on
Long Island. Eligible disabled veterans will
be provided orientation, vocational testing, assessment
& counseling, training and employment services.
This will be an important and satisfying experience for
Long Island veterans, because they will now not have to
make the trip to Manhattan, The Regional Office will come
to them. Other satellite access points in different
parts of the New York state will be opened shortly.
Through partnering and the sharing of resources with local
government agencies to achieve a common goal, the New York
Regional Office will be able to provide a more cost
effective service which will ultimately result in
considerable savings for the American taxpayer.
The New York
Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Division has
also established a partnership with the New York State
Department of Labor, which has assigned a Disabled Veteran
Outreach Program (DVOP) placement specialist to be an
integral part of the VR&E Rehabilitation Team.
Disabled veterans in the New York VR&E Division
continue to receive seamless service by having VR&E
and DOL staff linked and working together.
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Results
The New York Regional
Office, Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment
Division has exceeded the expectations set for the program
and has generated very positive results. Our local
partnerships have not only improved the service provided
to disabled veterans but also provided better
understanding of the needs and expectations of veterans as
well as a better understanding of the mission of each
linked organization.
Each year, thousands
of disabled American veterans complete programs of
vocational rehabilitation through VA and become suitably
employed in jobs which range from air conditioning and
refrigeration technician to zoology. In recent
years, we were able to find employment with jobs providing
salary levels of $37,908 on average annually. In
fiscal year 2006, we were able to provide satisfying
career employment for 305 disabled veterans.
Graduates of our program can be found in almost every
career area and some have become leaders of business,
industry, and government. Hiring a disabled veteran
makes good sense and is good for business and the
nation.
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