What is ACCES-VR?

ACCES-VR, or Adult Continuing Career and Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation (mouthful) is NY's go to agency for anything related to people with disabilities and work. ACCES-VR is a program under the ACCES division of The New York State Education Department.

ACCES-VR helps those with ALL disabilities, whether acquired before age 22 (developmental disabilities) or acquired later in life. OPWDD (Office for People with Developmental Disabilities) in contrast, focuses only on those who have acquired or can prove they have acquired, a disability before age 22. ACCES-VR tends to come up in conversations once work becomes a priority for a person with a disability.

ACCES-VR offers a staggering amount of career development services, from most common of helping someone find a job and supporting a person on the job, to less commonly known services such as Driver Rehabilitation and Benefits Advisement (SSI/SSDI).

According to the ACCES-VR webpage, ACCES-VR's mission is: "Assists individuals with disabilities to achieve and maintain employment and to support independent living through training, education, rehabilitation, and career development". They specialize in employment and anything related to your career development, nothing else. Areas of life such as housing, food, etc are the endeavors of other NY agencies.

How does it work?

First you will need to register with ACCES-VR. This can be done through completing their application. It can be completed online or delivered through snail mail. You can find the application with this link: https://www.acces.nysed.gov/vr/apply-vocational-rehabilitation-services

Once registered, you will need to be reviewed and assessed by a counselor, known as a VRC (Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor) These counselors, at a minimum, are master's level trained in vocational rehabiltiation theory and assessments, and are specialists in getting an accurate picture of your vocational goals and your talents, strengths, limitations, and barriers. They will develop what's called an "IPE" (not to be confused with the "IEP" in special education). This IPE stands for Individualized Plan for Employment. It encompasses all the information necessary about you and your goals and a plan of action to set out and achieve them.

Once the IPE is developed, ACCES-VR will refer you to agencies that will perform the actual services. ACCES-VR does not perform the services themselves, they only provide the information and funding to the agencies, so that the agencies can be best equipped to carry out the work. These agencies are known as "Vendors".

Once the VRC sends out the information to the vendor, which by the way you can choose yourself, the vendor will receive it and call/email you for an intake. This person who will call/email you to perform the intake is known by many names (job coaches, employment specialists, program directors, career development managers etc)

This intake is basically how the vendor enrolls you into their program, giving you information about who they are, what they do, and how they plan to serve you and your vocational goals. They should be asking as many questions as possible to you and reviewing your information for clarity and accuracy. Then services kick off. Congratulations!

ACCES-VR offers many different types of services, which will be the topic of other blog posts. As a general rule of thumb, ACCES-VR services are more time bound and limited (meaning limited in duration, not quality) than other agencies, such as OPWDD who have support systems that are longer term.

ACCES-VR can serve someone as young as 14 years old. It is my belief that the younger a person with a disability can begin to learn and develop vocational skills, the better the chances for successful outcomes in employment. Early intervention is key. If you fall into this boat, I would suggest having a discussion with your school and/or care manager if you have one.