Disability services help workers conquer barriers
Jan. 10—Disability services and programs are available from the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services to Oklahomans who face barriers to employment.
"The Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services has two career planning and employment programs for Oklahomans with disabilities," said Jody Harlan, DRS communications director. "Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired assists people who are blind or visually impaired. Vocational Rehabilitation services with all other types of disabilities.
Harlan said both divisions provide vocational rehabilitation services.
"In state fiscal year 2022, DRS served 11,458 clients through VR and SBVI programs and 184,082 through all our disability programs," she said.
Applicants are eligible for vocational rehabilitation services from VR or SBVI, if they have physical or mental impairments that result in barriers to employment.
"They must require services to get or keep a job or advance at work," said Harlan. "There must be a chance they benefit from our services in terms of an employment outcome."
Harlan said the primary goal is employment in the community at the same rate of pay as other workers without disabilities who do the same jobs.
"Clients work with their counselors to develop an Individualized Plan for Employment that outlines specific goals and services needed to get or keep employment in their chosen career," she said.
DRS shared the story of one Shawnee woman's career journey with VR in a press release from December.
Amy Jenkins was hired at ONE Gas as a temporary customer service representative in 2005 and promoted to a series of jobs with increasing responsibility over 17 years, including contract analyst and helping commercial and industrial customers purchase natural gas.
Jenkins is now a process improvement consultant for the company and helps determine which technology projects offer the most benefit to the company and models department data for accurate and consistent reporting.
"I like being able to combine my communications background with data analytics and modeling so I can really break down what's happening with some nice visuals to spice up the data a little bit," said Jenkins.
Jenkins uses a wheelchair and has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which causes peripheral nerve damage and loss of sensation in arms and legs. She qualified for career counseling, tuition assistance and other employment services from VR.
VR helped fund Jenkins' education at Eastern Oklahoma State College and her undergraduate degree in agricultural communications from Oklahoma State University. ONE Gas funded her master's degree in business administration from Oklahoma Christian University.
"Vocational Rehabilitation was also great in helping me evaluate my skills and figure out what kinds of employment I wanted to do," Jenkins said.
Clients are served by the nearest office based on zip code. Harlan said people can find the nearest office by visiting https://www.okdrs.gov/office-locator or calling 800-487-4042 and following instructions to be transferred to the nearest office.
VR serves people from Tahlequah with other types of disabilities at 1295 Skills Center Circle in Tahlequah. The main number for this office is 918-207-5962. SBVI serves people from Tahlequah with visual disabilities here at 733 S. 32nd St. in Muskogee. The main number for this office is 918-781-4150.
Learn more
The VR application is available online at https://oklahoma.gov/okdrs/job-seekers/general-information/app-for-service.html. Staff is available if applicants prefer to complete it in the office.
