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Vocational Rehabilitation GoalsIf you are a client with Rehab Services for the Blind, your counselor will want to get together with you to sign an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). In this plan, you will put in writing your vocational goals, your expected graduation date, what career you want to go into, and what equipment you will need during your college training.Most of this can be changed, for example, if you realize it will take another semester or two to graduate, it can easily be revised in your IPE. You should have control of what happens in the IPE. Your counselor is required by law to provide your IPE in a format that you can read. He or she is also required to give you a copy of the IPE. Your counselor should also inform you of the client assistance program in case the two of you have a disagreement. You are able to go through this agency to get the situation resolved, if you are not able to resolve the disagreement directly with your counselor or the counselor’s supervisor. Once you have informed your counselor of your vocational goal, the two of you will begin talking about college: Where it is you want to attend school, etc. He or she will be able to give you information specific to your situation concerning financial assistance, equipment, and what skills you may need to be successful in college. You are not required to utilize the services of a rehabilitation agency, however. They are there as a resource to you. There is a lot of variance in what resources rehabilitation agencies offer. Typical services might include: tuition assistance, purchase of adaptive equipment, purchase of other equipment (like a computer), purchase of books in print and/or alternative formats, transportation expenses and reader expenses. You should definitely ask for training in any alternative skills you will need to be successful in college. A few things that come to mind are: orientation and mobility, Braille and computer use.
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