Does Vocational Rehabilitation Work For People with Hearing Loss

Editor: We were thrilled to have Ron Jacobs, PhD, from San Diego State University speak at our April HLAA-SD Meeting. Ron has taught in their Rehabilitation Counselor for the Deaf (RCD) program for many years and is a nationally recognized expert on this topic. Here's our coverage of his presentation.

This is part two of two parts.

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Ron began with some general information on the California Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program. It is funded with state and Federal money, with the Feds contributing $4 for every $1 spent by the state. There are about 750 VR counselors in California, 48 of whom are Rehabilitation Counselors for the Deaf (RCDs). That proportion corresponds roughly to the caseload of clients with hearing loss. The intention of VR is to assist people who have disabilities that limit their success, to seek new employment or upgrade their employment.

There are three steps to become eligible for VR services: documentation of a disability, verification that the disability is an impediment to employment, and a prognosis that VR services will lead to employment.

Disability determination is based on the impact on functional capability in six areas - the more areas in which a person is impacted, the greater the determined disability. People who are impacted in at least three areas are considered most severely disabled; those impacted in two areas, severely disabled, and those impacted in one area, disabled. Clearly, a client should work with his counselor to demonstrate limitations in as many areas as possible.

The six areas are:
1. Mobility
2. Communications
3. Self Care (Ability to take care of oneself)
4. Self Direction (Cognitive Issues)
5. Work Skills (Does the disability reduce or limit them?)
6. Work Tolerance (Does the disability reduce a person's ability to tolerate the work environment?)

The Department of Rehabilitation uses a policy called Order of Selection (OOS) to determine who gets services. When funding is tight (as it is now), they are unable to provide services to everyone who requests them, so they provide services to the most severely disabled first, then the severely disabled, etc. So a person who can demonstrate impact in three areas is most likely to be served.

A person with hearing loss is clearly impacted in the communications area, but how about the others? You may have to think outside the box, but you may be able to come up with some additional areas. For example, if your job requires a lot of travel and you can't hear airport announcements, you're likely to miss a gate change and therefore a flight. That's a mobility impairment. A client should work with his counselor to get as many of the six areas checked off as possible.

Note that the entire VR process requires a lot of advocacy and assertiveness on the part of the client. There are big differences between counselors, offices, the times, your state, etc. VR provides the template, but there are lots of variations.

The VR situation for people with hearing loss in California is really troubling right now. The key supervisory position has been vacant for about two years. We keep hearing that the position will be filled soon, but it just hasn't happened. And that leaves a huge hole at the top of that group.

There's a committee called the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advisory Council that advises the Department of VR. Larry and I are on that committee, and there are other folks who represent deaf-blind people, deaf at-risk, people, etc. I've been on the council since the 1980s, and it used to be stacked in favor of the signing Deaf community. But now it's more equitable. It's supposed to meet five times a year, but with the current budget problems, we haven't met in probably a year. So the Council is pretty much "disabled".

There is also a State Rehabilitation Council that still meets, but there is no representative for hearing loss on that Council. Hearing loss is actually a fairly low incidence disability, representing only about six percent of VR cases. There are lots of cases of drug and alcohol abuse, vision loss, mental impairments, and mobility problems. There are also some disability groups that are growing very fast, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and autism.

So with all those issues affecting how people with hearing loss are served by VR, I wouldn't expect things to get a lot better soon.

Here's Part Two