Vocational Rehabilitation: Serving America’s Veterans
Increasingly, the public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system has been providing services to help disabled veterans find work and live independently. Although veterans can receive job training and independent living skills through the Veterans’ Administration (VA), in some cases veterans cannot or prefer not to access such services through the VA. Frequently, the VA and VR collaborate to provide all of the supports a veteran needs to become independent, as VR’s highly flexible funding is sometimes able to pay for essential services which the VA cannot cover. Below you will find examples of services provided by state VR programs to US veterans; the names have been changed to protect the client privacy.
As a teenager, Luisa Eguila completed high school and took some courses in dental assistance at a community college in her home town of El Centro, CA. At age 20, she joined the Army with a standard three-year commitment. For the first two years, she was assigned to be a Dental Assistant. While on active duty, Luisa sustained a service-connected injury, shattering her elbow, hand and wrist. She was reassigned to work as a records clerk. Upon discharge, she received an overall disability rating of 25% and a lifetime pension of $275.00 per month. After finding and losing several jobs, Luisa became homeless. At the time of her referral to the Texas VR program, she was living at the Veterans’ Domiciliary in Dalls. VR collaborated with the VA to provide counseling to help Luisa acknowledge her skills and limitations, and provided employment-related services.
Back to top