Evan Davis, a student in the SUCCESS higher education program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, walks to class with his red backpack in 2013. (Emilie Eastman/Capital News Service/TNS)
Vocational rehabilitation should pay for services provided out of state, including post-secondary programs for those with autism or intellectual disabilities if similar options cannot be found within its borders, federal officials say.
New guide The U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration details how vocational rehabilitation agencies should respond to out-of-state requests for services.
Ultimately, the five-page technical assistance document says that if a vocational rehabilitation beneficiary seeks services that meet the needs identified in his or her individualized plan for employment, or IPE, the agency must accept an out-of-state option as long as a comparable in-state option does not exist.
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“State VR agencies must provide VR services that best meet the unique vocational and disability needs of individuals with disabilities and maximize employment opportunities for such individuals, even if those services are located outside the state,” reads the guidance sent to state officials across the country this month.
The information comes in response to questions the Rehabilitation Services Administration has received about whether vocational rehabilitation agencies can support individuals who wish to attend post-secondary training out of state.
Offerings that people with disabilities might try to access farther from home include post-secondary programs designed to address the specific needs of students with autism or intellectual disabilities, for example, or residential training centers for people who are blind, officials said.
Out-of-state programs may also be justified if the course of study or degree needed to meet a person’s IPE employment goal is not available in a particular state. Similarly, if a person has been accepted to a prestigious out-of-state college or university that would better position him or her to access employment, the vocational rehabilitation agency should support that option, federal officials said.
“State VR agencies may establish a preference for services within the state, provided that the preference does not effectively deny an individual a necessary service that may be available outside the state,” the guidance states. “State VR agencies may not establish policies that effectively prohibit the provision of services outside the state.”
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