Understanding Your Rights

I just spoke about the need to start early. In this section, we'll go over understanding your rights. First, we'll talk about the law I mentioned before, W I O A, which stands for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, W I O A. Next, we'll discuss the IEP, which you might already be familiar with, the Individualized Education Plan. Lastly, we'll talk about VR, Vocational Rehabilitation. I'll now go into more detail for each. 

Let's start with WIOA, the workforce innovation and opportunity act. WIOA is a comprehensive piece of federal legislation that was enacted in July of 2015. This law provides support for transition age students with disabilities to receive the training and services that they need. WIOA is not only intended for people with disabilities, but rather all those who have struggled to locate and secure training and employment. The law's intent is to bolster training for a wide array of industries. For the purposes of this presentation, we are talking about how WIOA supports people with disabilities and specifically DeafBlind youth. WIOA seeks to provide more job opportunities, more educational opportunities, job training, and other services that ultimately result in successful employment of the individual receiving services. So that's WIOA.  

Now we'll talk about the five pre-employment transition services that are mandated under WIOA. These are required to be provided to all people with disabilities that fall under WIOA. The first is job exploration counseling. This means learning about what jobs are available and what each entails. The next is work-based learning. Actually going onsite and observing, or even actually trying out a certain job. This could be accomplished through a summer job. The third service is post-secondary education counseling. The counselor will provide you options for continuing your education after high school. This could be college, voc rehab, job training programs, maybe even going to HKNC. HKNC has a program called M-Power. This program incorporates job exploration, and you can receive counseling on what options for your future are available to you. You can decide what is right for you, perhaps it's college, or maybe you want to go straight into the workforce. The fourth Service is work readiness skills training. This training aims to make you more independent. For you, this might mean orientation and mobility training, learning how to read braille, English literacy training, or whatever skill it is you need in order to be independent. This could also include travel and transportation work, so that you can get to and from work. This fourth step is all about making sure you are ready for work. The final service centers around advocacy; learning how to advocate on your own behalf. Self-advocacy involves asking for what you need in order to be able to successfully do your job. So, these are the five services that are supported and funded by WIOA. This training is actually sponsored by WIOA.  

I just gave an overview of WIOA and now I'll talk about something you might already be familiar with, an IEP. IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan. Essentially, this is your educational plan. This is a very powerful self-advocacy tool. IEPs are the result of another law called I D E A, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, I D E A. IDEA was passed in 2004. IDEA is a piece of federal legislation that covers all 50 States. The law ensures four essential rights. Again, I won't go into too much detail, but I will give you an overview. The first right is that all schooling must be what the law calls free and appropriate. Meaning any student has the opportunity to go to any school free of charge. And that school must provide an appropriate education for you. The second right is that you must be educated in what the law calls the least restrictive environment. Essentially, you should have the same opportunities as everyone else to access school facilities or programs. The school also must provide supplementary aids and services, meaning they must provide you with equipment accommodations and other services to support your individual needs. Lastly, the law requires an assessment to make sure the school is providing the correct access, support, and services to meet your needs and educational goals. The IEP is the mechanism that incorporates all four rights into one document. You, along with the school's IEP team, draft, enact and evaluate a plan. If things aren't working well, you can make changes to the IEP. The IEP is in place to make sure you have what you need to succeed. Now that we know what an IEP is, I'll explain how to navigate the process and how to use the IEP to your advantage. 

We just talked about the IEP. While the school will make an assessment of your progress and be involved in the decision making process, the ultimate responsibility does not lie with the school. The IEP takes into consideration, both the school's response, as well as yours. You have a have a right to participate in the process. You can say what services and accommodations you need to be successful. Perhaps the school chooses a certain path or program for you, but you disagree with this choice. Speak up, or perhaps you no longer want to use speech reading, but you actually prefer ASL, or maybe you need tactile interpreters, rather than visual ASL interpreters, or you can request training on how to read braille. All of these considerations can be raised in the IEP meeting. It's your right to participate, after all it's your IEP. All recommendations will be written down in the IEP. At the conclusion of the meeting, an IEP is formalized with services and accommodations agreed upon by the team. Once the document is finalized, the school is legally required to follow it. Once everything is written down and you and the school agree, both parties will sign off on the IEP. If you're the only deaf student in a mainstream classroom with hearing students, you might explore other program options. There could be other educational environments with other deaf students that you might prefer. You might feel overwhelmed, outnumbered, or like you don't know the right way to explain something in the IEP meeting, you can invite others to the meeting to be with you. For example, a mental health professional, VR counselor, or O&M specialist. These professionals can all be there to advocate on your behalf. They can offer their expertise and guidance to the school based staff who in turn can implement their suggestions and their expert recommendations can be documented in the IEP. At the end of the day, the IEP is yours and you have a right to participate in its creation. If you've been to your IEP meetings year after year, but have never really participated, now's your chance. Think about what you'd like to ask for at the next one. The school might deny your request, but might have alternatives. Learn what works for you and what doesn't work for you and make that known in the meeting. Remember that this is a legal document that all parties sign, there's power within your IEP. Those are your rights. Take advantage and participate. I just went over IEPs, which applies to you as long as you are in a school system.  

Now I'd like to talk about Vocational Rehabilitation, usually referred to as VR or Voc Rehab. You might've heard about voc rehab before, but now we'll get into the particulars. VR's number one mission as an agency is to put you to work. There are a number of requirements and they differ from state to state. There is no standardized federal system. State VR agencies have different age minimums in place about who they can serve and when. In some States, services can start when you are 18, while others, you have to graduate high school first, it just depends on your state. What's important to know is that the state VR agency is required to provide these pre-employment transition services. VR services fall under what's known as the Rehab Act. WIOA has introduced amendments to the rehab act of 1973. It promotes the understanding that all people are expected to be part of the workforce, including people with disabilities, whether they're physically disabled, deaf, or hard of hearing, all Americans are expected to participate in work. Voc rehab is there to provide skills and support to individuals, so they can obtain employment. Voc rehab typically falls under adult services. I will explain the difference between adult and youth services in a little bit. Definitely check out your state VR program, their requirements, and you can even find your local VR counselor. Some States have specific VR agencies for the blind or agencies for the deaf, so do a little research to see what your state has to offer. Some States have agencies for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Often these agencies that specialize in something work in conjunction with the state VR agency to provide services. Look into what your state VR agency has to offer. Before you graduate from high school, you can even reach out and potentially meet with a counselor, do an intake assessment, all before you graduate from high school. That wraps up the section on understanding your rights.

________________________________

Resource: ADA Video Series

This is a 7-part deaf-blind friendly, accessible video series which summarizes the Americans with Disabilities Act.

https://www.helenkeller.org/hknc/americans-disabilities-act-ada