Challenges of Vocational Rehabilitation in America

By Tom Scott

Employment opportunities are often limited for people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), even in metropolitan areas like New York City. It’s not always easy to find employers that understand their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many qualified applicants with SCI/D have been turned away from jobs due to a business’s unwillingness to provide appropriate training and reasonable accommodations, or to simply follow the law.

There has been some progress made in providing accommodation and access needs to people with disabilities, especially in the public sector (Table 1). But discrimination still runs rampant and if you ask many employers how they would connect to a pool of qualified job candidates with disabilities, most wouldn’t know where to begin.

Vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs are intended to assist individuals with disabilities in securing employment in light of these discriminatory practices and removing some of the common barriers to career advancement (Table 2), but success of these programs has been limited.

In rural America the challenges are even greater. Job hunters not only face discrimination because of their disabilities, but a multitude of other obstacles that thwart their prospects of joining the workforce. Some may also contemplate self-employment due to the lack of opportunities. VR agencies are also confronted with greater challenges compared to their urban counterparts. VR counselors serving rural populations encounter poorer economic conditions, lower educational levels, little or no public transportation, different consumer needs, more geographic barriers such as distance and isolation, cultural reluctance of individuals to seek or accept help, and a general lack of services (Arnold & Seekins, 1998).

How VR Works

VR programs operate through federally-funded state agencies that interpret a broad range of federal VR policies and guidelines. These agencies function under the supervision of the U.S. Rehabilitation Services Agency (RSA), which oversees and monitors grant programs that help individuals with physical and mental disabilities obtain employment and live more independently. VR agencies serve their clients through medical, psychological and vocational assessments; counseling and guidance; referral to services from other agencies; vocational and other types of training; interpreter and reader services; services to family members; rehabilitation technology services; placement in suitable employment; post-employment services; and/or other goods and services necessary to achieve rehabilitation objectives (Paralysis Resource Center, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation).

VR counselors have a great deal of discretion in developing individualized rehabilitation plans (Ravesloot & Seekins, 1998). The plans focus on the needs and goals of each client. Counselors make judgments and recommendations that influence the course of rehabilitation, job satisfaction, and quality of life of their clients, and may also rely on long-standing relationships with employers to help prospective job candidates get hired. On average, 230,000 people with disabilities find employment each year with assistance from VR agencies. While that number seems satisfactory, the amount of individuals that enter VR programs and fail to gain employment is much greater. Findings from a 2003 longitudinal study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education of 8,500 applicants and recipients of RSA’s VR programs, however, found that people with disabilities who have achieved competitive employment through existing business and VR partnerships have a nearly 85 percent job retention rate after one year.

Rural Challenges

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 50 million people in the U.S. aged five and over have disabilities, and of those approximately 10 million live in rural areas. A 2004 report by the Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities (RTC) estimates that 11 to 15 million people with some disability and approximately half that number with a significant disability live in rural areas.

Unlike most states along the east coast where disabled communities are easily accessed, VR agencies that operate in rural regions of the country are faced with drastically different challenges in providing their services. Some of these agencies must rely more on distance technology (i.e., internet chat and message forums, email, teleconferencing, fax machines, real time video, web cams, etc.) to successfully counsel and educate clients that live in isolated areas. Beyond the challenges of the rehabilitation process, counselors must also gain the trust of the clients, ensure confidentiality, and allow time for the client to become comfortable with using the technology (often referred to as ‘humanizing’ the counseling environment). This may entail additional training and adds another complex element to the VR process. There are, however, some benefits to using distance technology, including cost-effectiveness, a faster counseling process, and more outlets to employment. Many VR counselors still believe it should complement the conventional VR model, not replace it.

One State’s Approach

Jim McIntosh, administrator of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation for the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, who has over 30 years experience in VR discussed some of the challenges his agency has had to overcome in assisting Wyoming residents with disabilities.

“Transportation to and from the job/training, distances between communities (50 to 100 miles ) and the lack of services in the smaller communities make it difficult to provide the high level of services we expect. VR does what is needed to get individuals to needed services including the purchase of vehicles when necessary,” McIntosh says.

But despite these challenges, McIntosh notes that there are many career opportunities in Wyoming for people with disabilities, although it is a highly rural state.

“Wyoming is booming right now so jobs are plentiful. Jobs in the oil, coal, gas industries are available. However, we counsel individuals with disabilities toward careers, not just jobs. As always, using informed choice the individual helps make the final choice on an employment outcome,” he says. “We had 700 success stories last year. Our initiatives this year include developing an aggressive program for students with disabilities transitioning from school to work/education, developing a statewide brain injury program, and a continued effort in developing programs with mental health centers to work more effectively with individuals with Seriously and Persistently Mental Illness (SPMI).”

McIntosh says his agency differs from those in less rural states in that VR employees spend more time together as a professional staff. “Larger agencies can’t pull staff together as easily as we can.” He adds that the agency does use distance training, such as teleconferencing and web cams, but consider face-to-face meetings more appropriate. Some of the major concerns of prospective employees McIntosh deals with daily are whether or not they will lose their Social Security or workers compensation if they pursue employment. Others worry if they will be successful if they enter a new job field. And some, who have never worked before, are apprehensive about entering the job market because they don’t know what to expect.

“We do an excellent job of meeting with staff on a regular basis. The agency as a whole uses the internet, conference calls, and teleconferencing to meet with staff across the state. We provide a weekly newsletter to all staff, as well as a monthly call in for all staff to participate in,” added Lisa Osvold, deputy director of Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. “The agency continually looks for ways to better serve our clients. We’re currently in the process of implementing a state wide Career Ready Certificate (CRC). The certification is awarded based on the recipient’s scores on WorkKeys, which measures job skills in three key areas: Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information.

“Depending on their scores on the WorkKeys assessment test, recipients will earn a bronze, silver, or gold certificate. The bronze certificate denotes that the holder possesses the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to be eligible for 35% of the roughly fourteen thousand jobs registered in the WorkKeys database; a silver certificate increases the percentage to 65% of the jobs in the database, and a gold certificate increases the holder’s eligibility to 90% of the jobs in the WorkKeys database. Although this will be available to all individuals, with and without disabilities, I can see the added benefits for individuals with disabilities. It will not only assist the individual and his counselor in selecting a career, it will also force the employer to look past the disability and see the individual’s skills and qualifications.”

There are also self-employment options available in Wyoming through the VR agency. McIntosh points out that, “VR has a full time Small Business/Self-Employment Consultant who works with VR counselors and individuals with disabilities to develop and support small businesses in Wyoming. We have also created the Small Business Development fund to help support small businesses during the start up period.”

RSA Monitoring Program

From FY 2007 and continuing until FY 2009, the RSA is conducting annual reviews and periodic on-site monitoring of state VR agencies to determine whether they are complying substantially with the provisions of its state’s VR plan. Approximately one-third of all states and territories will be monitored in each of the three fiscal years. VR Monitoring Reports provided by the RSA for FY 2007 reviewed twenty-three agencies in fifteen states and two territories. The reports offer some insight on the rate of success of VR agencies across the country in serving people with disabilities (www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/rehab/107-reports/2007/index.html).

The statistics demonstrate that a VR agency’s success doesn’t necessarily depend on whether they are operating in rural or non-rural communities. In 2006, of the 2,313 individuals served through VR in Wyoming, 670 gained employment (29%); of the 56,416 individuals served through VR in New York, 12,956 gained employment (23%). Out of the fifteen states monitored in FY 2007, Wyoming’s VR agency had the highest percentage of individuals with disabilities employed through its program, followed by Nebraska (27%) and Vermont (26%); Hawaii had the lowest percentage of people with disabilities gain employment through VR (12%). From the 271,005 individuals with disabilities served in the fifteen states monitored by the RSA in FY 2007, 54,419 or 20% gained employment through VR agencies and a total of $881,366,503 in funds were used (Table 3).

THE RSA will need to continue to work with state agencies to ensure that VR programs improve at meeting the needs of people with disabilities seeking employment and that substantial funding for these agencies is used more appropriately to generate better employment outcomes in the future.

References

Arnold, N. L. & Seekins, T. (1998). Rural and urban vocational rehabilitation: Counselors perceived strengths and problems. Journal of Rehabilitation, 64.

Disability Employment 101 (October 2003). Jointly developed by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Center for Workforce Preparation.

Paralysis Resource Center, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
www.paralysis.org/site/c.erJMJUOxFmH/b.1337927/k.76C1/Vocational_Rehabilitation.htm.

Ravesloot, C. & Seekins, T. (1998) Vocational rehabilitation counselors’ attitudes toward self-employment: Attitudes and their effects on the use of self-employment as and employment option. Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities, The University of Montana Rural Institute, Missoula, Montana.

Reiss-Reiss, M. (2000). Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling at a Distance: Challenges, Strategies, and Ethics to Consider. Journal of Rehabilitation, 66.

U.S. Department of Labor. Statistics about people with disabilities and employment. www.dol.gov/odep.