(1) “Act” means the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.
(2) “Activity of daily living” means an activity required on a frequent basis that permits an individual to secure or maintain independence. Such activities include, but are not limited to, personal home care, transportation, personal assistance services, housekeeping, shopping, attending school, communication, and employment.
(3) “Assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs” means a review of existing data to determine whether an individual is eligible for vocational rehabilitation services and to assign the priority, and, to the extent additional data is necessary to make such determination and assignment, a preliminary assessment of such data, including the provision of goods and services during such assessment. If additional data is necessary, the division must make a comprehensive assessment of the unique strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed choice, including the need for supported employment, of an eligible individual to make a determination of the goals, objectives, nature, and scope of vocational rehabilitation services to be included in the individualized plan for employment.
(4) “Center for independent living” means a consumer-controlled, community-based, cross-disability, nonresidential, private, nonprofit organization designed and operated within a local community by persons who have disabilities to provide an array of independent living services.
(5) “Community rehabilitation program” means a program that provides directly or facilitates the provision of one or more services to persons who have disabilities to enable them to maximize their opportunities for employment, including career advancement.
(6) “Department” means the Department of Education.
(7) “Disability” means a physical or mental impairment that constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment.
(8) “Division” means the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education.
(9) “Employment outcome” means, with respect to an individual, entering or retaining full-time or, if appropriate, part-time competitive employment in the integrated labor market to the greatest extent practicable, supported employment, or any other type of employment, including self-employment, telework, or business ownership, that is consistent with an individual’s strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed choice.
(10) “Extended services” means one or more ongoing support services and other appropriate services needed to support and maintain a person who has a most significant disability in supported employment and to assist an eligible person in maintaining integrated and competitive employment. Extended services are based upon a determination of the needs of the eligible person as specified in the person’s individualized plan for employment and are provided by a state agency, a nonprofit private organization, an employer, or any other appropriate resource after the person has made the transition from support provided by the department.
(11) “Independent living core services” means informational and referral services; independent living skills training; peer counseling, including cross-disability peer counseling; and individual and systems advocacy.
(12) “Independent living services” means any appropriate rehabilitation service that will enhance the ability of a person who has a significant disability to live independently, to function within her or his family and community and, if appropriate, to secure and maintain employment. Services may include, but are not limited to, psychological counseling and psychotherapeutic counseling; independent living care services; community education and related services; housing assistance; physical and mental restoration; personal attendant care; transportation; personal assistance services; interpretive services for persons who are deaf; recreational activities; services to family members of persons who have significant disabilities; vocational and other training services; telecommunications services; sensory and other technological aids and devices; appropriate preventive services to decrease the needs of persons assisted under the program; and other rehabilitation services appropriate for the independent living needs of a person who has a significant disability.
(13) “Occupational license” means any license, permit, or other written authority required by any governmental unit to be obtained in order to engage in an occupation.
(14) “Ongoing support services” means services provided at a twice-monthly minimum to persons who have a most significant disability, to:
(a) Make an assessment regarding the employment situation at the worksite of each individual in supported employment or, under special circumstances at the request of the individual, offsite.
(b) Based upon the assessment, provide for the coordination or provision of specific intensive services, at or away from the worksite, that are needed to maintain the individual’s employment stability.
The ongoing support services may consist of, but are not limited to, the provision of skilled job trainers who accompany the individual for intensive job-skill training at the worksite, job development and placement, social skills training, followup services, and facilitation of natural supports at the worksite.
(15) “Person who has a disability” means an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that, for the individual, constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment and who can benefit in terms of an employment outcome from vocational rehabilitation services. The term encompasses the terms “person who has a significant disability” and “person who has a most significant disability.”
(16) “Person who has a significant disability” means an individual who has a disability that is a severe physical or mental impairment that seriously limits one or more functional capacities, such as mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction, interpersonal skills, work tolerance, or work skills, in terms of an employment outcome; whose vocational rehabilitation may be expected to require multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time; and who has one or more physical or mental disabilities resulting from amputation, arthritis, autism, blindness, burn injury, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, deafness, head injury, heart disease, hemiplegia, hemophilia, respiratory or pulmonary dysfunction, intellectual disability, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, musculoskeletal disorder, neurological disorder, including stroke and epilepsy, paraplegia, quadriplegia, or other spinal cord condition, sickle-cell anemia, specific learning disability, end-stage renal disease, or another disability or a combination of disabilities that is determined, after an assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs, to cause comparable substantial functional limitation.
(17) “Person who has a most significant disability” means a person who has a significant disability who meets the designated administrative unit’s criteria for a person who has a most significant disability.
(18) “Personal assistance services” means a range of services, provided by one or more individuals, designed to assist a person who has a disability to perform daily living activities, on or off the job, that the person would typically perform if the person did not have a disability. Such services shall be designed to increase the person’s control in life and ability to perform everyday activities on or off the job. The services must be necessary for achieving an employment outcome and may be provided only if the person who has a disability is receiving other vocational rehabilitation services. The services may include training in managing, supervising, and directing personal assistance services.
(19) “Physical and mental restoration” means any medical, surgical, or therapeutic treatment necessary to correct or substantially modify a physical or mental condition that is stable or slowly progressive and constitutes an impediment to employment, but is of such nature that the treatment can reasonably be expected to correct or modify such impediment to employment within a reasonable length of time, including, but not limited to, medical, psychiatric, dental, and surgical treatment, nursing services, hospital care in connection with surgery or treatment, convalescent home care, drugs, medical and surgical supplies, and prosthetic and orthotic devices.
(20) “Preemployment transition services” means the services of job exploration counseling, work-based learning experiences, counseling on comprehensive transition or postsecondary education programs, workplace readiness training, and instruction in self-advocacy as required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, which may be provided to students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for vocational rehabilitation services.
(21) “Service provider” means a person or entity who provides, pursuant to this part, employment services, supported employment services, independent living services, self-employment services, personal assistance services, vocational evaluation or tutorial services, or rehabilitation technology services on a contractual or fee-for-service basis to vulnerable persons as defined in s. 435.02.
(22) “State plan” means the state plan approved by the Federal Government as qualifying for federal funds under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. However, the term “state plan,” as used in ss. 413.393-413.401, means the state plan for independent living under Title VII(A) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.
(23) “Supported employment” means competitive work in integrated working settings for persons who have most significant disabilities and for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred or for whom competitive employment has been interrupted or is intermittent as a result of such a disability. Persons who have most significant disabilities requiring supported employment need intensive supported employment services or extended services in order to perform such work.
(24) “Supported employment services” means ongoing support services and other appropriate services needed to support and maintain a person who has a most significant disability in supported employment. Supported employment services are based upon a determination of the needs of the eligible individual as specified in the person’s individualized plan for employment. The services are provided singly or in combination and are organized and made available in such a way as to assist eligible individuals in entering or maintaining integrated, competitive employment. The services are provided for a period of time not to extend beyond 18 months, but can be extended under special circumstances with the consent of the individual in order to achieve the objectives of the rehabilitation plan.
(25) “Third-party coverage” means any claim for, right to receive payment for or any coverage for, the payment of any vocational rehabilitation and related services.
(26) “Third-party payment” means any and all payments received or due as a result of any third-party coverage.
(27) “Transition services” means a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome-oriented process, that promote movement from school to postschool activities, including postsecondary education; vocational training; integrated employment; supported employment; continuing and adult education; adult services; independent living; or community participation. The coordinated set of activities must be based upon the individual student’s needs, taking into account the student’s preferences and interests, and must include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other postschool adult living objectives, and, if appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.
(28) “Vocational rehabilitation” and “vocational rehabilitation services” mean any service, provided directly or through public or private entities, to enable an individual or group of individuals to achieve an employment outcome, including, but not limited to, medical and vocational diagnosis, an assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs by qualified personnel; counseling, guidance, and work-related placement services; vocational and other training services; physical and mental restoration services; maintenance for additional costs incurred while participating in rehabilitation; interpreter services for individuals who are deaf; recruitment and training services to provide new employment opportunities in the fields of rehabilitation, health, welfare, public safety, law enforcement, and other appropriate service employment; occupational licenses; tools, equipment, and initial stocks and supplies; transportation; telecommunications, sensory, and other technological aids and devices; rehabilitation technology services; referral services designed to secure needed services from other agencies; transition services; on-the-job or other related personal assistance services; and supported employment services.
History.—s. 2, ch. 25364, 1949; s. 13, ch. 65-239; ss. 15, 19, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 1, 2, ch. 69-344; s. 158, ch. 71-377; s. 302, ch. 77-147; s. 111, ch. 79-164; s. 21, ch. 86-220; s. 8, ch. 90-330; s. 4, ch. 94-324; s. 58, ch. 97-103; s. 6, ch. 2002-22; s. 1, ch. 2010-70; s. 5, ch. 2012-73; s. 17, ch. 2012-215; s. 15, ch. 2013-162; s. 1, ch. 2020-85.
Note.—Former ss. 229.26, 229.0100.