Vocational rehabilitation

Yeah, that makes sense to me.

You have to be at least 10% disabled in order to qualify for Vocal Rehab.

Right, and then that may add some variables to whether or not you comply.

Correct.

And you'll find the links right in the show notes.

To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact shane.desantis at state.mn.us. That's shane.desantis at state.mn.us. Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab, and find out what they can do for you.

Live.

Work.

But even knowing that it is an option on the table is still not a default.

When you're sitting down in a special education IEP meeting, when you're sitting at an IPE meeting with your VR counselor, you're not always getting information about the full range of options.

So getting the reason we did the campaign was to give our Really, in a four-minute video, there is a four-minute campaign video that shows students with intellectual disability at colleges and universities all over the country, real college students, real college professors, real college presidents and chancellors and administrators saying, this is what it looks like.

This is how it's changing us at the student level, the college level, the community level.

you brought to mind school counselors who often know what regular colleges are available, but they don't know about these.

So when you have a college night, make sure you're inviting colleges and universities that enroll people with intellectual disability.

When you have a transition fair, don't just invite VR and state IDD agencies and community rehab providers.

Invite colleges and universities who enroll people with intellectual disability.

So we're going to unpack some of that little by little.

But thinking about the voc rehab side of things, you know, at one point you, of course, were someone who is receiving services.

You became someone who probably is really, really good at providing services and the support that's needed alongside it.

Was there a moment, you know, in your journey where you realized this is something I really could do well, something I really want to do? How did it go from, you know, this is, you know, what I need from my accommodations to I want to be this person for someone else?

Yeah, so I got connected with Voc Rehab my sophomore year in college.

After my freshman year where I 100% failed a whole class because I failed to read the syllabus and skipped class too many times.

Not even going to laugh.

Exactly.