Personal assistance services are defined as a range of
services, provided by one or more persons, designed to assist an consumer with
a disability to perform daily living activities on or off the job. These
services are activities that the consumer would typically perform without
assistance if the consumer did not have a disability. The 1992 and 1998
Amendment to the Rehabilitation act of 1973 require that such services be
designed to increase the consumer’s control in life and the ability to
perform everyday activities on or off the job.
Personal assistance services include, but are not
limited to, interpreter services for persons with hearing loss, personal care
assistant services, services for the blind or visually impaired, tutorial
services and education assistance, and personal support systems on and off the
job. These services should be considered at each major phase of the
rehabilitation process to determine which are necessary for a consumer to
achieve his/her employment outcome.
Department procedures to provide personal assistance
services are intended to maximize customer involvement and control of
decisions about personal assistance services and enhance customer choices
about services necessary to perform everyday activities on or off the job.
Personal assistance services are made available statewide to consumers with
disabilities on an individualized need basis, with services covered through an
established fee-for-service arrangement.
Personal assistance services are excluded from economic
needs test. Such services may be provided only while the consumer is receiving
other vocational rehabilitation services. Counselors work with consumers to
identify and plan for issues of long-term personal assistance needs through
informed customer choice about employment goals and information about
available community resources. Developing the Individualized Plan for
Employment (IPE) and closure planning should include, as appropriate: referral
to community resources including Benefits Plus for benefits counseling;
assistance with Plans of Self Support (PASS);and thorough exploration and
utilization of comparable benefits.
