Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
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[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
j. 1. A. With the most significant disabilities, including their need for supported employment services;
Current Narrative:
At present, the VRA hired a new entity to carry out the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Needs Assessment of People with Disabilities 2020. Results will be included in the second year revision of the VR Portion in 2022. The 2017 Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment results still current and some of them will be presented in this section.
The study was a complex one, because it used mixed methodology (where qualitative and quantitative elements were integrated) and required safeguards when synthesizing the gathered information, since the internal and external validity of the study are different. At the same time, this was an extensive study, because it gathered input from four (4) professional sectors in the quantitative phase (heterogeneous among themselves, representing fifteen (15) specialties) for a total of 295 professionals (of which 81 were DE professionals and 214 belonged to the VRA), and five (5) sectors in the qualitative phase represented eight (8) sectors, among them professionals, parents or tutors and consumers for a total participation of 38 persons making up the focal groups. Details about methodology and general findings are available at the VR Portion of the State Plan 2018 revision/modification.
The professionals that made up the General Group surveyed, of which 75% came from VRC-Case Managers, were asked about supported employment and other VR services needs of people with most significant disabilities. The 10 services were classified as very necessary for the majority of those surveyed, emphasizing on services: 3 - Evaluation in real job scenarios (ecological evaluation), 4 - Evaluation to determine pre-employment needs, and 9 - Supported Employment as the services with the most support for being most in need (90%, 91% and 84%, respectively). Regarding the frequency of the availability of services at the VRA, it is important to point out service: 3 - Evaluation in real job scenarios (ecological evaluation) classified as very necessary by 90% of those surveyed, which was at the same time classified as not available by 43% of them; at the same time, service number 10 - Extended Support classified as very much in need by 70% of those surveyed and classified as unavailable by 23% of them.