Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for State Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by sections 101(a) and 606 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA.
- i. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development.
In accordance with the requirements in Section 101(a)(7) of the Rehabilitation Act, the VR agency must develop and maintain annually a description (consistent with the purposes of the Rehabilitation Act) of the VR agency’s comprehensive system of personnel development, which shall include a description of the procedures and activities the State VR agency will undertake to ensure it has an adequate supply of qualified State rehabilitation professionals and paraprofessionals that provides the following:
- i. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development.
i. 4. Method(s) the VR agency uses to ensure that personnel are able to communicate in appropriate modes of communication with or in the native language of applicants or eligible individuals who have limited English speaking ability.
Current Narrative:
VR maintains the ability to communicate with VR participants in their preferred mode of communication in a variety of ways. VR staff access and coordinate foreign language translation, ASL communication, Communication Access Real Time (CART), etc. whenever needed. To ensure communication services are available despite a shortage of some providers (i.e., ASL interpreters, CART providers), VR has increased utilization of remote interpreting services.
VR has VR Counselor Specialists to provide expertise and support for specific populations, including individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, individuals with low vision, and individuals with a traumatic brain injury. VR seeks candidates with some fluency in ASL for Counselor positions supporting participants with hearing loss. The BRS Aware (VR case management system) team has also expanded their understanding of the use of screen readers with JAWS and have provided additional training to VR staff who use screen readers. Accessibility was also a key consideration in identifying a learning management system to improve delivery of web-based training, and as mentioned, BRS began using YESLMS to allow us to further improve accessibility for staff.
VR also accesses language translation services whenever needed for communication with participants who are non-English speaking. Publications and brochures are available in large print and Spanish versions.