Department of Rehab Qualifying Criteria - The facts and a little strategy

Disclaimer – I have NEVER worked as a Department  of Rehab intake assessment case manager so I do NOT have any inside information “from the horse’s mouth” as it were. But I have worked in conjunction with Department of Rehab enough to know one or two things about eligibility and to decipher and interpret what is publicly available.

One thing to keep in mind is that I’m talking about Employment Services here, also known as Vocational Rehab services, or VR for short.  I’m NOT talking about Student Services here, also known as Potentially Eligible services, or PE for short. Student Services are basically career counseling services for youth ages 16 – 21 years of age. Any youth with a school district issues IEP or 504 plan qualify for this service, as would a medical diagnosed youth with a diagnosis that would make them qualified for an IEP or 504 if they were being served by the public school system.

In this blog I am talking about Employment Services or Vocational Rehab/VR services. As DOR states on their website, “Vocational rehabilitation teams work closely with job seekers to establish the best combination of services and resources necessary to prepare for, find, retain and advance in employment.” See the resources page for a link to the Department of Rehab website.

So, who is qualified to receive these services?

Qualifying criteria (also from the DOR website):

To be eligible for DOR Vocational Rehab services, an individual must:

1. have a physical or mental impairment that substantially impedes his / her ability to secure employment, and vocational rehabilitation services are required to prepare for, secure, retain, or regain employment consistent with the applicant's unique strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, interests, and informed choice;

Depending on the office this may be assessed more or less strictly and staunchly. There may be questions asked about HOW the person’s disability affects ability to work in an integrated setting. Depending on the intake assessor, there may or may not be follow up questions.

But I would recommend thinking of this expansively and in broad terms. Don’t get caught up in “it depends” but instead take the most conservative stance. Assume the most disability related challenge and the least accommodating work environment.

1. be able to benefit from the DOR's services in terms of an employment outcome in an integrated setting.

This just means, “is this person employable” and can the person benefit from services (many significantly intellectually disabled people may not be able to benefit from these services, for example).

For this criteria you almost want to take the opposite stance to the above and be very liberal (yea, I know this is crazy-making). Assume the most skill and ability for the individual and the most accommodating and supporting work environment. 😉 Of course they could be employable and could participate in services to get there.

What is a functional limitation?

The qualifying diagnoses must pose a "physical, mental, or cognitive impairment".

The tricky thing there is the definition of "Impairment" which is "significant enough to impact your ability to work or to find and keep employment".

And so what is a qualifying level of "impact"?

It all has to do with what is called “functional limitations”.

Here are the “functions” that are being assessed and what kinds of “limitations” that are being looked for. Functions boil down to activities of daily living.

In general terms, these include:

·         Personal hygiene or grooming

·         Dressing

·         Toileting

·         Transferring or ambulating

·         Eating

To any of these to be a DOR qualifying functional limitation they have to affect the ability of the individual to “prepare for, secure, retain, or regain employment”.

Also, for the purposes of DOR eligibility activities that can affect employability can also include the below.

·         Self-care

·         Mobility

·         Communication skills (receptive and expressive language)

·         Stamina

·         Senses (hearing and sight for example)

·         And others

And of course everything must be medically documented for your application to the Department of Rehab Vocational Rehab services.