As a traumatic brain injury survivor who wants to get back to work, I have been dealing w/a public vocational rehabilitation agency that claims assisting people w/disabilities in returning to work is its goal. As I am finding that not to be the case, I refer to the agency/program in question as Joke Rehab. (Vocational rehabititation is often referred to as voc rehab.) In practice, it is nothing but a joke!
funding has been cut to the point that the so-called employment services are virtually useless. (Never mind the fact that the economy is going to hell!)
Like many people with disabilities, I have been through the joke rehab system more than once. (This is my second go-round.)
The first time, I received limited financial assistance when I was attending graduate school. I would like to point out that joke rehab did not pay for my tuition–I won a fellowship and a grant. Also, I was working full-time and attended school full-time in an attempt to earn an M. Ed.
Don’t ask me how I did it, I can’t tell you. All I know is that I was always exhuasted, having difficutly w/headaches and “floaters” (white specks that would appear in my field of vision). In addition, I was having some very serious problems concentrating on work–the office was too damn noisy!!! Actually got fired because I had to keep my office door closed in order to concentrate. Couldn’t afford to continue in grad school, so I dropped out.
Then my father died and my sister was diagnosed with cancer. After my father’s death, I bummed around the UP (MI’s Upper Peninsula)and Canada for a summer. Came back and lived with my mom when the stress got to me.
To make a long story short, applied for SSD/I, got a Section 8, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and, eventually Medicare and moved around a bit until I settled down where I currently live.
And now the social programs that I and so many others are dependent on are severely threatened by the asshole in chief and his cronies. So, I decided to give joke rehab another shot, even though I had previously found it useless.(My original case was closed early due to previous budget cuts.)
What is gets me is that, as I was unable to return to my former occupation due to work restrictions and other limitations, joke rehab has done absolutely nothing.
Examples:
- I had to have a neuropsychological evalution, when I have already had three for the sole purpose of determining if I was “eligible” for joke rehab. But, the results of the first three were “not adequate to determine eligibility”, as they were considered “too old.”
- The agency originally denied a such an evaluation and I had to file an appeal to get one.
- The director of the agency stated that, “in cases of traumatic brain injury, a neuropsychological evaluation was standard practice.
- The results of the evaluation have been ignored by joke rehab and there is another appeal filed w/an informal hearing scheduled on Monday at 1:00 so I can actually receive joke rehab services that I am legally entitled to!
- The results of the evaluation also specifcally mention retraining, specifically computer training.
- The training that has been offered is on Windows ’95! (I keep hearing that bullshit that is all the state can afford. Does anyone honestly believe that, considering that the state of MI is using newer software?)
- Also, the agency was supposed to get things going for me w/in 60 days of when I originally filled out the application. And that was in APRIL!