Periodically, the commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) disseminates memoranda to the RSA Senior Management Team to provide information and guidance on the implementation of priority initiatives or strategies. Last fall, Joanne Wilson, RSA commissioner, distributed the following Commissioner's Memorandum (CM 04-01) regarding the importance of consumer organizations as valuable resources for vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. The memorandum clearly articulates the potential role of consumers in empowering persons with disabilities and the agencies that serve them.

Consumer organizations, whose membership and officers are comprised of a majority of individuals with disabilities, are an invaluable resource for State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. These organizations provide a network of individuals whose knowledge and experiences can significantly supplement the efforts of a VR agency in meeting its mission and in empowering persons with disabilities to achieve their employment and independent living goals. Consumer organizations can provide experience-based information, technical assistance, access to role models and mentors, disability-specific training, job matching, advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities and the needs of the public VR program, and a variety of other services that VR agencies would find useful in working with persons with disabilities. Whether representing individuals with mental illness, cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities, or individuals from a combination of these groups, consumer organizations specialize in empowering individuals with disabilities to achieve independence and self-sufficiency.

The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) is committed to leveraging the contributions of community organizations comprised of individuals with disabilities. To this end, RSA is developing initiatives to draw upon the contributions of consumer organizations by making their services a more integral resource to the VR program. These initiatives are designed to enhance the effectiveness of the VR system with the practical expertise and knowledge of persons with disabilities who have successfully overcome barriers in achieving their goals. For example, RSA is funding a mentoring initiative in which students with disabilities will be connected with mentors with disabilities, who possess the practical knowledge and personal experiences requisite to help the students effectively transition to adulthood. These mentors can offer transition-age youth information, support, and hope derived from first-hand and personal experiences that enable them to serve as real-life examples of what people with disabilities can achieve.

This Commissioner's Memorandum (CM) more fully describes both this mentoring initiative and other available opportunities for State VR agencies to utilize the unique contributions that consumer organizations can make throughout the VR process ranging from direct interaction with VR participants to meaningful impact upon systemic issues, such as statewide planning and policy development. RSA considers the development of strong working relationships between State VR agencies and grass-roots consumer organizations to be pivotal in ensuring that agency efforts are effective in meeting the needs of the various disability populations the agencies are serving and the realization of successful outcomes.

MENTORING

The expectations and beliefs that individuals with disabilities have about their own abilities, potential, and competence inevitably influence their choices throughout the VR process. All too frequently, individuals create self-imposed limits based on poor role modeling, lack of disability-specific information, and negative misconceptions about their disability. Ultimately, these self-imposed limits negatively affect their employment outcomes and quality of life. Connecting individuals being served by the VR program with mentors who have disabilities, who possess practical knowledge and firsthand experience, and who have achieved high-quality employment and independence through their participation in the VR process will help guide VR participants to make positive choices regarding their programs and their lives.

Furthermore, while all students encounter difficulties during their school years, many of the challenges encountered by students with disabilities are wholly unique. Students with disabilities often are unable to find summer and part-time employment, struggle with social acceptance and negative stereotypes about their disabilities, are not encouraged or fail to participate in extracurricular activities, and are not always taught the disability-specific skills and techniques they need to succeed at school and life. As a result, dropout rates among students with disabilities are significantly higher than those of the non-disabled population, and their college enrollment is approximately five times less than the general public's. The lack of opportunity to gain the experience and confidence through job training and summer employment combined with low expectations and minimal social skills or disability-specific techniques leave them ill-prepared to enter the workforce.