The Current State of Colorado DVR's Waiting List

The Current State of Colorado DVR's Waiting List

The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation's (DVR) waiting
list slowly, oh so slowly shrinks, and blind Coloradoans and others
with disabilities  continue to be hurt by the state's inability to
provide this necessary rehabilitation service, it appears that it
could take years to eliminate the waiting list at the rate things are
going.

A federal worker who has recently experienced significant loss of
vision struggles with basic mobility, her use of everyday technology
and daily living activities, yet can receive no services - even though
her job hangs in the balance.  A skilled and successful professional
recently became blind, but is told he must wait indefinitely.  At
least five Business Enterprise Program locations with priority for
blind vendors are unfilled for lack of qualified candidates to enter
training.  And for the second year in a row, blind high school
graduates have been caught in DVR's wait-list disaster, unable to
receive  services to assist their transition into post-high school
training and employment.

On July 24 DVR held a public hearing on new policies regarding time
limits for DVR services (More on those changes in a later post).  DVR
Director Joelle Brouner conducted the meeting which was open to all
interested parties, or "stakeholders."  At the end of the discussion,
Director Brouner opened the hearing up for general questions.  Below
is a quick recap of the DVR waiting list, incorporating the answers
Director Brouner gave to questions that NFB of Colorado participants
asked:

*    Colorado's DVR waiting list was closed in all categories as of April 2013.
*    DVR's waiting list peaked at over 6100 Coloradoans with disabilities
in late February 2014, when it moved the first 500 names off the list.
*    Just over 2200 names have been moved from the waiting list since
February 2014.
*    The waiting list still had 5151 names on it on  July 24.  This is
because DVR receives about 400 new applications each month.
*    DVR planned to move another 1503 names from the waiting list this
month.  It projects another 452 for the start of June, 2015, unless it
receives a supplemental appropriation from the Colorado Assembly in
2015.
*    All of those moved off the waiting list have been in the Most
Significant category, as that is the federally-mandated highest
priority category.
*    of the 5151 names still on the waiting list on July 24, 63 percent
were categorized in the Most Significant category, or highest
priority.  Another 23 percent were in the the Significant category,
second highest in priority.

It doesn't take a math genius to calculate that no one who is not in
the highest priority - Most Significant - will be moved off the
waiting list in the next couple of years if something doesn't change.
It is likely that it could take 2 to 5 years to pare the waiting list
down to nothing.  It is possible that the waiting list, in some
reduced form or another, could be with us for even longer than that.

It is also quite apparent that the waiting list is doing the most harm
to those who, under federal law, are supposed to be protected by the
waiting list - those with the Most significant and Significant
disabilities.

For the foreseeable future, DVR will still  require new applicaants to
its services to go onto a waiting list. Known as "Order of Selection"
or OOS under federal law, services to Coloradoans with disabilities
making application to DVR have been under strict limitations since
March of 2013.  That's when the first partial shutdown of new services
began.  Less than a month later, all new applicants were shuttled onto
the waiting list, with no timeline to begin to open the valves again.

Under Order of Selection, DVR clients who were already working on a
rehab plan were able to continue with those services.  Order of
Selection is included in the law to ensure that states have a
mechanism to keep providing services to the highest priorities of
their clients with disabilities if the agency decides it doesn't have
enough resources to serve those folks who are expected to apply for
services.

The categories establishing priority for DVR services are the same as
in every other state.  They are provided for in the Rehabilitation
Act, which is now part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act.  Here they are:

1.    Most Significant Disability
2.    Significant Disability
3.    Disability.

DVR Counselors follow agency policies and procedures in determining
which priority a client receives.  However, it's safe to say that most
blind applicants fall into one of the top two categories.

Even as DVR has begun its painstakingly slow process of shrinking the
waiting list in the last six months, the damage done to the lives of
Coloradoans with disabilities continues to mount.  The NFB of Colorado
is determined to do all it can to speed this process and and ensure
that our blind brothers and sisters can get vocational rehabilitation
services when they most need them.  That is simply good rehabilitation
practice.  Our hopes and dreams, even our ability to manage our
day-to-day lives are at stake.  With timely, appropriate training and
opportunities, we will live the lives we want!

Stay tuned to the Blind Coloradoan for updates on the DVR wait list
and stories of those denied timely DVR services.

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