Vocational Rehabilitation is series of services that are designed to facilitate the entrance into or return to work by people with disabilities or by people who have recently acquired an injury. This ppt focuses on intellectual disabilities, their challenges and opportunities.

1. Vocational Rehabilitation
For Person With Intellectual
Disabilities:
Challenges And
Opportunities.
Tejal Hemant Patil
Department of Applied Psychology, University
of Mumbai

2. What is Vocational Rehabilitation?
o V o c a t i o n a l R e h a b i l i t a t i o n i s s e r i e s o f s e r v i c e s t h a t a r e d e s i g n e d
t o f a c i l i t a t e t h e e n t r a n c e i n t o o r r e t u r n t o wo r k b y p e o p l e wi t h
d i s a b i l i t i e s o r b y p e o p l e wh o h a v e r e c e n t l y a c q u i r e d a n i n j u r y .
o S o m e o f t h e s e s e r v i c e s i n c l u d e v o c a t i o n a l a s s e s s m e n t a n d
e v a l u a t i o n , t r a i n i n g , u p g r a d i n g o f g e n e r a l s k i l l s , r e f r e s h e r
c o u r s e s , o n - t h e - j o b t r a i n i n g , c a r e e r c o u n s e l i n g , e m p l o y m e n t
s e a r c h e s , a n d c o n s u l t i n g wi t h p o t e n t i a l o r e x i s t i n g e m p l o y e r s f o r
j o b a c c o m m o d a t i o n s a n d m o d i f i c a t i o n .
o T h e s e s e r v i c e s m a y a l s o v a r y d e p e n d i n g o n t h e n e e d s o f t h e
i n d i v i d u a l .

3. Vocational Rehabilitation Process.
Vocational Evaluation
Employment Readiness
Job Placement
Strategies
Job Analysis
Job Accommodation
Job Follow Up

4. Disabilities
A disability is any condition of the body or
mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult
for the person with the condition to do certain
activities (activity limitation) and interact with
the world around them (participation
restrictions).

5. What are Intellectual Disabilities
o The term Intellectual Disability (ID) is increasingly being used instead of mental retardation.
o According to WHO, ID or mental retardation is defined as “A condition of arrested or
incomplete development of the mind, which is especially characterized by impairment of
skills manifested during the developmental period, which contribute to the overall level of
intelligence, i.e., cognitive, language, motor, and social abilities” (World Health
Organization, WHO, 1992)
o The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD)
describes “Intellectual Disabilities as characterized by significant limitations both in
intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and
practical adaptive skills”

6. o Every individual who is or was eligible for a diagnosis of mental retardation is eligible for
a diagnosis of Intellectual Disabilities (Schalock et al, 2007).
o According to both the DSM and ICD, 3 basic criteria should be met for a diagnosis of
intellectual disability (or mental retardation):
i. Significantly sub average intellectual functioning (IQ of 70 or below).
ii. Onset is before age 18 years.
iii. Concurrent deficits or impairments in adaptive functioning in at least two of the following
areas: communication, self-care, home living, social/interpersonal skills, use of
community resources, self-direction, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health, and
safety
o The manifestations of ID are mainly developmental delay in intellectual functioning and
deficits in social adaptive functioning. According to the severity of the delay in intellectual
functioning, deficits in social adaptive function and IQ.

7. Types of Intellectual Disabilities
Fragile X Syndrome
Down Syndromes
Developmental Delay
Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS)
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
Environmental and Other Causes

11. o Intellectual Disabilities Symptoms can be seen in areas like;
i. Speech
ii. Perception
iii. Cognition
iv. Concentration
v. Memory
vi. Emotion
vii. Movement
viii. Behavior
o Although IQ can change to some extend with increasing age, it is a surprisingly
robust construct that is strongly predictive of achievement. IQ has a large inherited
component but environmental factors have a strong effect as well.

12. The Attainment In Adulthood Of People With Different Degrees Of
ID

13. o The Intellectual Disabled pose a unique challenge toward rehabilitation, as cultural biases
in India shun those with retardation, and jobs are scarce.
o The Indian government in 1977 had reserved jobs for the Disabled but had included only
three categories like locomotor disability, blind and deaf. This continued for about 18
years.
o In 1995, reservation was extended to all categories and the definition of disability now
was expanded to include people with low vision, hearing impaired and leprosy cured. The
number of disabilities had risen to seven.
o It was only in 2016, the government introduced a bill increasing the number of disabilities
from 7 to 21. After enactment in 2017 the government has worked out the specifics in
January 2018. The reservation from 3% has now risen to 4% for jobs for the disabled.
Employment Laws for Intellectual Disable

14. How can Workplaces in India be Inclusive of Employees
with Intellectual Disabilities?

15. Opportunities
o People with ID seldom work in the open labor market and the proportion of people with ID in employment
varies between countries. For example, in Finland, it is 3% of working-age people with ID, in England 5–11%,
and in the USA, 10%
o The prevalence of ID is about 1% of the population, but it differs between countries. In Finland, it is 1%, as in
most European countries. In Finland, 0.8% of working-aged people have ID, which means 25,000 people.
o The nodal ministry of such services in our country is the Ministry of Labor and Employment. The Directorate
General of Employment and Training has 18 vocational rehabilitation centers for persons with disability under
its control, located at different parts of the country.
o District Rehabilitation Center (DRC) Project started in 1985.
o Research shows that there are various jobs available for PWID, such as culinary arts, design, heavy
equipment operation, veterinary assistance. There are special reservations available as well, however
implementation of such jobs sectors is very difficult. There is a lot of stigma and criticism related to it.

16. Challenges
o The major challenge includes understanding the concept of disability and acceptance of Community Bases
Rehabilitation as a valid intervention. Hospital-based rehabilitation services will lead to mystification of
knowledge with social isolation and low efficiency of services which will benefit fewer disabled.
o Prioritization of resources like finance, manpower, and materials will be another important issue to be
considered. Poor planning and management of CBR with lack of intersectoral coordination leads to poor
functioning of the services to disabled.
o Their disability makes learning more difficult than is for a typical learner, but they also face bias and prejudice.
Ex- who should survive (1971) movie, showed a down syndrome infant was allowed death because a surgery
was withheld, leaving a 15 day old baby die of starvation.
o Lack of co-ordination between the government and NGOs, the absence of a coherent community level
strategy, limited competence and capacity of decentralizing services, limited models of good practices are the
other lacunas in the system.
o A lot of stigma around the people with intellectual disabilities.
o Lack of research data available on the topic, makes it difficult to know the reality of the situation.

17. “For people who are not disabled, oftentimes they’re
overwhelmed by too many expectations. For people
with disabilities, they’re not given a fair shake because
people don’t expect enough of them”
Wayne McMillan

18. References
i. Arayan, J. (1990), Vocational Training and Employment of Persons with Mental Retardation. National Institute
for the Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad.
ii. Disabled Persons in India, NSSO 58th Round Survey Report (July – December 2012)
iii. Frank, A. O., & Sawney, P. (2003). Vocational rehabilitation. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96(11),
522–524. https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.96.11.522
iv. Goldberg, R. T., McLean, M. M., LaVigne, R., Fratolillo, J., & Sullivan, F. T. (1990). Transition of persons with
developmental disability from extended sheltered employment to competitive employment. Mental
retardation, 28(5), 299–304.
v. Kumar, S. G., Roy, G., & Kar, S. S. (2012). Disability and rehabilitation services in India: issues and
challenges. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 1(1), 69–73. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.94458
vi. Nevala, N., Pehkonen, I., Koskela, I. et al. (2015). Workplace Accommodation Among Persons with Disabilities:
A Systematic Review of Its Effectiveness and Barriers or Facilitators. J Occup Rehabil 25, 432–448
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-014-9548-z
vii. http://voice4ability.com/blog/towards-successful-vocational-rehabilitation-for-persons-with-intellectual-
disability-5.html
viii. https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/jobs-for-people-with-disabilities

19. Thank You