Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rehabilitatio
n,
Independent
Living, and
Consumerism
Vocational rehabilitation programs
• Primary purpose = help PwD -
• Prepare for employement
• Obtain gainful employment
• Wide range of disability are catered to by rehab counsellors
• SCI
• Stroke
• Arthritis
• MS
• TBI
• Amputations
• Chronic pain
• Developmental and learning disabilities
• Psychiatric disorders
Government has set up 20
vocational Rehabilitation Centres
The main objectives of VRC -
• Vocational evaluation and adjustment of PwDs
• Assessment of the medical, psychological, rehabilitation needs
• Assist in developing rehabilitation plans
• Sponsor physically handicapped registrants against notified/identified vacancies
• Distribution centers for various schemes(Scholarship/aids/appliances)
• Make referrals to financial institution for funding self-employment ventures.
VR
process
This process generally involves
• Evaluation
• Job analysis
• Job follow-up
Consumer movement in
rehabilitation
Vocational evaluation and
Vocational assessment
• Often used interchangeably
• Vocational assessment is a general term that includes many different
forms of evaluation
• Vocational evaluation is defined as a comprehensive assessment that
utilizes a variety of tools, including paper-and-pencil tests, structured
interviews, and real or simulated work
• With its focus on work-related abilities, a vocational evaluation may
use work samples, situational assessments, and on-the-job
evaluations
Employment
Readiness
• Medical stability - important concern
• Stamina and endurance (i.e., to determine part-time vs. full-time)
• Psychosocial factors such as the individual's support systems
• Availability of adequate attendant care
• Transportation is another critical element in job success, as public transportation
can be inaccessible and is often unreliable
• Psychological readiness to go to work - This includes motivation, self-confidence,
interpersonal flexibility, coping resources, and realistic expectations about work
• People have needs beyond the financial, such as satisfying interpersonal contact,
achieving a sense of belonging, being productive, and enjoying creative
expression, all of which can greatly contribute to motivation for work
Job Placement
Strategies
• Once the individual is ready to seek employment - must develop or
refine the employment skills
• Individual with virtually no work history will require far more
extensive job-seeking-skills training, (following up on job leads,
resume writing, application completion, and interviewing skills)
• Primary role of the VR counselor - assist in developing these skills
using tools as coaching, role playing, or video taping
• In addition he or she must also know how to respond to questions
about disability on an application or in an interview
• Knowledge of legal protections is critical
Job
• Job analysis critical to the ultimate success of job placement efforts
Analysis
• By analyzing a particular job in a certain environment, suitable
accommodation recommendations can be made
• Must be analyzed for factors in the
• Work environment - parking at the worksite, restrooms, canteens, and
building accessibility
• Job tasks - lifting, grasping, standing, walking, sitting, talking, hearing,
writing,
and reading
• Productivity - For people with cognitive or affective limitations, other critical
factors might include the work atmosphere (e.g., busy or relaxed) and
cognitive demands (e.g., memory, reasoning, problem solving)
Job
Accommodations
• Requesting a job accommodation is another skill
• Although the individual is expected to know what accommodations
are required, the VR counselor can often act as a consultant to the
employer and can help to negotiate these
• Some accommodations like rearrangement of equipment. For
example, for individuals using wheelchairs, a height-adjustable desk, a
voice-activated speakerphone, or moving office supplies to accessible
drawers
• Other examples - job restructuring, flexible schedules, large print,
allowing use of personal care attendants or service animals, and
large-button phones
Job Follow-up
Services
• Follow-up services for both consumer and employer
• Ensure a successful outcome
• Accommodations may require further adjustments after the
individual actually begins the job
• It is important that an employee who cannot function successfully be
removed from the job, as the primary goal of VR is a successful
outcome for both the individual and the employer
THE CONSUMER MOVEMENT
IN REHABILITATION
• Gradually emergence of the consumer is occurring in contrast to
patients or clients
• Emphasis on self-help and self-direction
• Pioneered by Ed Roberts and other individuals with severe disabilities
during the early 1970s, the philosophy of IL asserted that individuals
with severe disabilities were capable of managing and directing their
own lives
• Services and supports that PwD need are best delivered by individuals
who themselves have disabilities and whose knowledge about both
disability and services is derived from firsthand experience
Consumer-Related Services and Centers
for Independent Living
• The specific features of individual IL programs are determined by
• Individual needs of the consumers served
• Availability of existing community resources
• Physical and social make-up of the community
• Goals of the program itself
Independent living
IL program can be defined as a community-based program with
substantial consumer involvement that provides direct or indirect
services (through referral) for people with severe disabilities.
P
r
o
d
u
c
Government Schemes - Poverty Reduction
schemes / Livelihood schemes
Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana
(SGRY)
• Objectives - wage employment and increase
nutritional levels in rural areas through food-
for-work programmes
• Target group - all rural poor who are in need of
wage employment and wish to do manual and
unskilled work in and around their village/habitat
• Preference - parents of handicapped children or
adult children of handicapped parents
Farmers crushing stones as part of the food-for-work
programme in a Karnataka village
Government Schemes - Poverty Reduction
schemes / Livelihood schemes
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA)