A National Commitment

Almost 80 years ago, the United States adopted a national policy of providing vocational rehabilitation services to veterans and civilians whose capacity to work was reduced by disability. The development of the vocational rehabilitation movement in the United States for veterans has been fostered by two democratic assumptions basic to our Republic. First, independent and productive citizens strengthen the nation. Second, veterans, whose capacity to be independent and productive is reduced while serving the nation in the military forces, are entitled to compensation and vocational rehabilitation services to obtain and maintain independence and productivity. This is not charity. It is entitlement provided for service. Furthermore, it is in the best interest of the nation.

Vocational Rehabilitation Is----

Vocational rehabilitation is a facultative process enabling a person with a handicap to attain usefulness and satisfaction in life. More than anything else, vocational rehabilitation is intended to help handicapped individuals help themselves to know and use their assets.

Beginnings

Vocational Rehabilitation was started as a government service to war-injured veterans and disabled citizens during the World War I era. On October 16, 1917, the War Risk Insurance Act provided authority to the Federal Board for Vocational Rehabilitation to set up and offer programs of vocational rehabilitation to disabled veterans. To be eligible, a veterans needed a disability resulting from military service for which compensation could be received under the War Risk Insurance Act. The disability had to be vocationally handicapping, and preparation for a realistic occupation had to be feasible. The Federal Board o Vocational Education and the US Department of Labor worked together to place in employment individuals who completed training and were ready for employment. From 1917 to 1928, about 330,000 veterans were found to be eligible for vocational rehabilitation services, and about 180,000 of these people entered training programs. Of the 180,000, about 130,000 were eventually employed and declared rehabilitated. For individuals disabled in military service during the period between World Wars I and II, the veterans' vocational rehabilitation program did not exist.

World War II and the Korean Conflict

On March 24, 1943, Congress reestablished the vocational rehabilitation program for veterans of World War II. The Veterans Bureau had been reorganized and designated as the Veterans Administration and was given responsibility for the veterans vocational rehabilitation program. The law provided vocational training for veterans having service-connected disabilities causing vocational handicaps which constituted a need for training to restore the employability lost by reason of the handicaps. As it had been during the World War I period, the goal of vocational rehabilitation was still defined as the completion of the training program. About 621,000 disabled veterans received vocational rehabilitation training as a result of World War II. Subsequently, on December 28, 1950, Congress extended benefits to veterans of the Korean Conflict period who were disabled as a result of military service from June 27, 1950 through January 31, 1955. About 77,000 disabled veterans received training as a result of the Korean Conflict.

Peacetime and Viet Nam Periods

On October 15, 1962, Public Law 87-815 was passed by the Congress and signed by the President. This law authorized vocational rehabilitation benefits for veterans who served during peacetime between World War II and the Korean Conflict, and after the Korean Conflict. This was the first time the nation's debt to peacetime veterans was recognized in this manner and about 23,600 post-Korean peacetime disabled veterans received training. However, this new law put additional requirements on the eligibility criteria which made entrance into the program more restricted. Regretfully, these restrictions continued into the Viet Nam era and applied to veterans of that wartime period.

In December of 1974, new legislation was passed which updated the provisions of the program and relaxed the restrictive criteria so that more service-connected disabled veterans could qualify for services. The term "vocational rehabilitation" continued to be defined as training for the purpose of restoring employability which was lost by virtue of a handicap due to service-connected disability. Once the veteran completed the prescribed training, the job of rehabilitation was considered to have been completed.

Into the Mainstream

In 1977, Congress mandated intensive outreach efforts to encourage veterans to use available vocational rehabilitation and counseling services. In addition, Congress called upon the Veterans Administration to conduct a thorough study of its veteran's vocational rehabilitation program to determine what legislative and administrative changes might be needed to meet the needs of the current disabled veteran population. The study found that the VA program of vocational rehabilitation was very much patterned after the State/Federal vocational rehabilitation program, but was not meeting the needs of the service-disabled veterans with a program which had been essentially unchanged since World War II. Recommendations stemming from the study included bringing the program services to a level which would meet the needs of the veterans and revising the conclusion of rehabilitation to include the achievement and adjustment into suitable employment.

The earlier definition of rehabilitation, that of completion of training, was incomplete in two important areas. First, it omitted certain essential services. There were no provisions for pre-training services for veterans whose training and employment goals were indeterminate or for direct employment placement and work adjustment services. Second, this limited definition resulted in a fragmented concept of vocational rehabilitation which did not consider rehabilitation to be a unified, multidisciplinary process. Consequently, the definition promoted the provision of VA vocational rehabilitation services as separated services rather than as integrated and coordinated components of an overall process. The findings and recommendations of the study were adopted by the President in his message to the Congress on October 19, 1978, concerning the status of Viet Nam era veterans. The President concluded that the vocational rehabilitation program required "major updating". As a result, in 1979, the Administrator of Veterans Affairs created a task force to take the information from the earlier study and combine it with their own observations and work with the Congress to frame an essentially new program. Accordingly, in the first major change since World War II, Congress passed Public Law 96-466 which essentially gave service-disabled veterans a state-of-the art program of comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services. As described by the law, the purpose of the program was now to "provide for all services and assistance necessary to enable veterans with service-connected disabilities to achieve maximum independence in daily living and , to the maximum extent feasible, to become employable and to obtain and maintain suitable employment.

Program Features

Public Law 96-466 did not update the vocational rehabilitation program - it replaced it. The "new" program has two key goals. First, to assist the service-disabled veteran to prepare for, obtain, and maintain suitable stable employment. Second, for those persons who are so severely disabled that gainful employment is not an option, assistance may be provided to allow that person to live more independently in his or her community.

Each veteran who applies for the current program must meet basic eligibility criteria of (1) having a service-connected disability which has been rated by the VA as compensable at least at the 20 percent level. In certain circumstances, veterans who have a rating of 10 percent may be eligible. (2)They were discharged or released from military service under other than dishonorable conditions or are hospitalized awaiting separation for medical reasons, and (3) VA determines that they need vocational rehabilitation. Applicants who meet this basic eligibility are provided a comprehensive initial evaluation by trained counseling psychologists to determine if they have medical, psychologically, physical, or other difficulties which preclude them from preparing for a career or finding and keeping employment which is consistent with their abilities, interests, and aptitudes. If the veteran meets the entitlement criteria, an Individual Written Rehabilitation Plan (IWRP) is developed between the veteran and the VA which provides an outline of the services to be provided to reach the mutually agreed vocational goal.

Name Change

On January 10, 2000, the name of the Veterans Affairs (VA) program responsible for providing comprehensive services to assist disabled veterans in obtaining suitable employment or achieving independence in daily living was changed to the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program (VR&E) program. This change is important. It is intended to clearly state the organization's re-energized focus on employment and reflects the direction of key initiatives.

Services

VA's vocational rehabilitation program may provide a wide variety of services which are tailored to the individual needs of the participant. These include:

• An evaluation to determine eligibility and entitlement and to provide a basis for vocational planning or planning of a program of independent living services.
• Educational, vocational, psychological, employment, and personal adjustment counseling.
• A living allowance while receiving training services.
• A work-study allowance.
• Placement services.
• Personal adjustment and work adjustment training.
• Vocational and other training services and assistance including tutorial assistance, tuition, books, fees, supplies, handling charges, licensing fees and equipment and other training materials necessary.
• Medical and dental treatment.
• Prosthetic appliances, eyeglasses, and other corrective and assistive devices.
• Self-employment services.

The veteran is generally entitled to 48 months of benefits to be used within 12 years of the date of separation or notice of service-connected disability rating, whichever is later. Under certain circumstances, these limitations may be waived.

Each veteran participant works closely throughout the course of the program with a vocational rehabilitation specialist/case manager who serves to facilitate needed services. Once the veteran is determined to be job-ready, an Individual Employment Assistance Plan (IEAP) is developed as a guide to the provision of employment services.

If a veteran is determined to be too severely disabled to become gainfully employed, an assessment is provided to determine if the veteran could benefit from a program of independent living services. If the answer is yes, an Individual Independent Living Plan (IILP) is developed which outlines the specialized services which are deemed necessary to maximize the veteran's ability to living independently in his or her community. In most cases, the provision of these very specialized services are provided in approved rehabilitation facilities.

Outcomes

The outcome point of today's vocational rehabilitation program for service-disabled veterans is the attainment and maintenance of suitable stable employment or the successful transition into a more independent living environment. In fiscal year 1999, approximately 35,200 service-disabled veterans completed entitlement determinations for the program and about 29,100 went on to develop rehabilitation plans. In this same year, 10,281 disabled veterans achieved rehabilitation through suitable employment. On average, the earned income of these veterans, at the time they applied for vocational rehabilitation services, was $4,947 per year. The average annual earned income for each person in this group, following rehabilitation, was $27,470. In the first year, the estimated Federal tax generated by these workers, as a group, is $35.4 million; State tax revenue is $14.2 million; and Social Security payments were $14.9 million.