Serving All Consumers: Identifying Racial Disparities in the Vocational Rehabilitation System. Policy Brief

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program is the largest workforce program in the United States, providing employment services to people with disabilities to help them retain or enter competitive integrated employment commensurate with their abilities and capabilities. During the pandemic, state VR services were significantly affected and in some cases those services were halted for a period of time as agencies attempted to reroute services virtually and to eventually provide in-person contact. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a recession in the United States that impacts all workers. Historical data in the U.S. show that people with disabilities are more likely than their peers without disabilities to drop out of the workforce during economic downturns and are less likely to recover employment after the recession ends. VR agencies work against societal assumptions to shift the understanding of what people with disabilities can do at the local and state level. Since the 1970s, the VR system has achieved employment and educational outcomes for millions of people with disabilities while partnering with tens of thousands of employers. This brief contributes to deepening the understanding of the disability population and how to continuously improve services to expand these accomplishments. All people with disabilities have the potential to work -- strengthening the VR system will help to ensure that the nation benefits from the knowledge, creativity, and contributions of the entire population.