DRS Services: Visual Services Rehabilitation

Business Enterprise Program (Vending Facilities)
Career Planning Centers
Assistive Technology Lab (Visual Services Center)
Supported Employment
Ticket to Work
Transition from School to Work

What about visual services for people who are blind or have low vision?

People who are blind and those with visual impairments should contact the Division of Visual Services at kklohr@drs.state.ok.us.

Legal blindness occurs when visual acuity with best correction is 20/200 or less or when side vision results in a field restriction of 20 degrees of less.

People who have other disabilities should contact the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation at lsantin@drs.state.ok.us.

To obtain more detailed information on DRS rules and regulations read Title 612 of the Oklahoma Administrative Code and Register. You can view the online code at http://www.oar.state.ok.us/oar/codedoc02.nsf/All/A526F4DA7C1F635B86256EF40028A57A?OpenDocument

Business Enterprise Program (Vending Facilities)

The Business Enterprise Program (BEP) trains and assists people who are blind or visually impaired in establishing and operating food service businesses in public and private facilities across the state. The Division of Visual Services equips locations, provides initial inventory and offers on-going technical support.

Licensed BEP managers must complete vending facility training courses. They must also pay a percentage of net proceeds to the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, which matches federal funds to support the program.

Total sales generated by BEP managers average over $7 million each year.

Business Enterprise Program
Division of Visual Services
Department of Rehabilitation Services
8 NW 8th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
(405) 231-1060 Voice/TTY

For more information, contact pbryant@drs.state.ok.us.

Career Planning Centers

Consumers are referred to Career Planning Centers located in Lawton, Oklahoma City and Tulsa by their counselors. The centers increase consumer success by offering:

Great labor market information
Career exploration avenues
Solutions to vocational barriers
Vocational rehabilitation planning assistance
Opportunities to find the perfect employment match
Assessments or evaluations, regardless of the ability to read or write

Vocational evaluators at the Career Planning Centers are trained to match individuals with employment opportunities by measuring aptitude, achievement, motor skills, reasoning, social skills and actual abilities that are specific to the consumer's chosen field of work.

To receive services, Oklahomans with disabilities must first meet with a vocational rehabilitation counselor.

For more information, contact rgholder@drs.state.ok.us.

Assistive Technology Lab

The Assistive Technology Lab at the Visual Services Center provides free evaluations and demonstrations using adaptive equipment and assistive technology. Our mission is to help people reach their vocational goals using the right technology according to their individual needs. The lab is operated by the Division of Visual Services.

The lab is outfitted with various types of assistive (or adaptive) technology including computer software that allows users to hear text through speech synthesizers, screen magnification software and video magnifiers that increase the size of normal reading text up to 16 times with clarity.

Our staff will evaluate each person and complete a report including background information on the visual condition, types of equipment the individual was evaluated on and specific equipment that proved useful.

Individuals who are blind or have low vision may contact the lab directly. Division of Visual Services counselors, employers, medical professionals or others may refer people for assistance.

Assistive Technology Lab
Visual Services Center
Division of Visual Services
Department of Rehabilitation Services
2401 NW 23rd Street, Shepherd Mall, Suite 91
Oklahoma City, OK 73107
(405) 522-3398
(800) 523-0288 Toll Free

For more information, contact ahilliard@drs.state.ok.us

Supported Employment

The Community Rehabilitation Services Unit (CRS) in the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation oversees several specialized job placement programs and projects serving individuals with severe disabilities and those with the most severe disabilities. The unit creates new placement services and provides technical assistance and training to agencies under contract to deliver services to DRS consumers and to DRS staff.

CRS operates the supported employment program, which is a specialized type of job placement for people with the "most severe" disabilities. DRS contracts with multiple vendors across the state to provide intensive, specialized "job coaching" that individuals require to choose a job, learn the tasks, and keep the job.

Employment and Retention is a CRS job placement program designed for individuals with severe disabilities who require "short term" job coaching, beyond what is available in typical job placement programs, in order to obtain, learn, and/or keep a job. DRS contracts with vendors statewide to provide these services.

CRS's Oklahoma Milestone Payment System received awards from the Ford Foundation and other government groups for cutting government spending, improving service delivery and increasing consumer satisfaction by linking payment for contract services to a series of checkpoints, or "milestones," on the way to specific goals or outcomes, such as employment.

For more information, contact csames@drs.state.ok.us.

Ticket to Work

Those affected by the new Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Investment Act (TWWIIA) legislation currently receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits. The intent of the federal legislation is to assist these individuals in becoming employed, thus reducing or eliminating their need for disability benefits and social services assistance.

Under the Ticket to Work program, the Social Security Administration will begin in 2001 to distribute tickets to over 100,000 Oklahomans between the ages of 18 and 64 who are SSDI and SSI recipients with disabilities.

The tickets can be used to purchase services from service providers called employment networks which will provide employment assistance, vocational rehabilitation services and other support services. The Department of Rehabilitation Services' (DRS's) divisions of Vocational Rehabilitation and Visual Services will form a primary employment network with links to more than 50 partners under contract to provide services throughout the state.

For more information about the implementation of Ticket to work, contact Cathey Ames at jprice@drs.state.ok.us

Transition from School to Work

The Transition School-to-Work Program helps students with disabilities who are eligible for vocational rehabilitation services to prepare for employment and life after high school. Services available through Division of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors assigned to each high school include:

Vocational counseling and guidance assists teachers, parents and students in developing appropriate career goals
Vocational assessment and evaluation helps determine students' employment-related strengths
Work study provides job readiness skills, work experience and high school credits
Work site learning, arranged through "cooperative agreements" with schools, provides minimum-wage work in the community or at school, job readiness skills, work experience and high school credits
Work adjustment training is purchased from community-based facilities
On-the-job training is arranged in the community for students in the second semester of their senior years with permanent employment as a goal
Supported employment helps students in the second semester of their senior years transition into permanent employment
Job development and placement specialists help students make job searches more successful.
After graduation, DVR counselors and students continue to work toward vocational and employment goals.

Some services are available to all eligible individuals without charge. At this point, individuals may be asked to share the cost of some services, depending on income and financial resources.

Transition School-to-Work
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Shepherd Mall
2401 N.W. 23rd Street, Suite 59
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73107
(405) 522-6528

For more information, contact ljgameson@drs.state.ok.us.