Health Care and Services
Vocational Rehabilitation
What Is Vocational Rehabilitation and Who Qualifies?
Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is a state-run, federally funded program that helps people with disabilities prepare for, find, keep or advance in a job. You qualify if you have a physical or mental impairment that is a substantial barrier to work and you need VR services to work. If you get SSI or SSDI, the law presumes you're eligible. Every state has a VR agency, and about half have a separate agency for people who are blind; find yours in the table below.
What Vocational Rehabilitation Does
Vocational rehabilitation is a public employment program for people with disabilities. Each state runs it with federal grants under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, overseen by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).
The goal is a real job: competitive integrated employment, or supported employment, that fits your strengths, interests and choices. VR can help you start working for the first time, go back to work after an injury or illness, keep a job that your disability is putting at risk, or move up.
Some states run one VR agency for everyone. Others split it into a general agency and a separate agency for people who are blind or visually impaired. The table at the end of this page lists every state’s agency.
Who Qualifies for Vocational Rehabilitation
Federal rules (34 CFR 361.42) say the agency can base its decision on only three things:
- You have a physical or mental impairment.
- That impairment is a substantial barrier to getting or keeping a job.
- A VR counselor finds you need VR services to prepare for, get, keep, advance in or regain work.
If you meet the first two, the agency must presume you can benefit from services. Applying counts as showing you intend to work.
If you get SSI or SSDI, you’re presumed eligible and treated as having a significant disability, based on SSA’s decision. You don’t have to prove your disability again. The agency has 60 days from your application to decide.
The agency can’t turn you away because of the type of disability you have, your age, your income, how much your services might cost, your work history or your education. It also can’t require you to have lived in the state for a set time.
Services VR Can Provide
What you get depends on your plan. Federal rules list the services a VR agency must make available, including:
- Assessment and counseling: career assessments, vocational counseling and guidance, and referrals to other agencies.
- Training: vocational and college training, books, tools and supplies. For college, you and the agency must first look for grant aid such as financial aid.
- Health-related help: physical and mental restoration services when insurance or another source doesn’t cover them.
- Access: sign language and oral interpreters, reader services, orientation and mobility training, and personal assistance services.
- Technology: rehabilitation technology, including vehicle modification and sensory aids.
- Getting there: transportation tied to your services, and maintenance payments for extra living costs while you’re in services.
- Finding work: job search and placement, job retention help, supported employment and post-employment services.
- Self-employment: occupational licenses, tools, equipment and initial stock, plus help with market analysis and a business plan.
If you’re getting accommodations at work, the workplace accommodations guide explains what your employer owes you under the ADA.
Your Individualized Plan for Employment
Once you’re eligible, you and the agency write an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). It’s a written plan that names your job goal, the services you’ll get, who provides them and how they’re paid for.
- Deadline: the plan must be done as soon as possible and no later than 90 days after you’re found eligible, unless you and the agency agree on a later date.
- Who writes it: you can write all or part of it yourself, or get help from an agency counselor, an outside counselor, a disability advocacy organization or someone else.
- Your choice: you choose your job goal, the services, the providers and how services are bought, within the rules.
- Reviews: you and a counselor review the plan at least once a year. Changes take effect only when both of you sign.
- Students: a student’s plan takes the IEP or 504 plan into account.
If you’re on SSI or SSDI, the agency must also give you information about benefits planning. The working on disability guide covers how earnings affect your benefits.
Order of Selection: When VR Has a Waiting List
Not every state can serve everyone who’s eligible. When a state can’t, federal rules require an order of selection: priority categories that put people with the most significant disabilities first.
What that means for you:
- You may be found eligible but placed in a category that isn’t being served yet.
- If you’re not in a category being served, the agency must still give you information and referrals to other programs.
- A state can choose to serve people who need a specific service or equipment to keep a job they already have, even if they’d otherwise wait.
A state that says it can serve everyone may not use waiting lists to delay eligibility decisions, plans or services. Ask your agency whether it’s under an order of selection and which category you’re in.
Pre-Employment Transition Services for Students
Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) are for students with disabilities, and they’re available whether or not a student has applied for VR. A student generally qualifies if they’re in school or another recognized education program, at least the age when IDEA transition services start (or a lower state minimum), no older than 21 (or a higher state limit), and either getting special education under IDEA or covered by Section 504.
Every state must offer five services:
- job exploration counseling;
- work-based learning, such as internships, in the community where possible;
- counseling on college and comprehensive transition programs;
- workplace readiness training for social and independent living skills;
- instruction in self-advocacy, which can include peer mentoring.
VR staff attend IEP meetings when invited. If your child has an IEP or 504 plan, the school can invite VR to the meeting. The IEP guide and 504 plan guide explain those plans, and SSI for children covers benefits before age 18.
Ticket to Work and Vocational Rehabilitation
Ticket to Work is SSA’s employment program for people ages 18 through 64 who get SSDI or SSI because of a disability. SSA says it’s free and voluntary. Your state VR agency is one of the providers you can use; the others are Employment Networks (ENs).
How the two fit together:
- You can work with your state VR agency or an EN, depending on what you need.
- You can get VR services first and then ongoing support from an EN.
- You and your provider write a plan, and you commit to making “timely progress” toward work or training.
- If you assign your Ticket before you get a medical review notice and make timely progress, SSA won’t conduct a medical continuing disability review.
To check eligibility, call the Ticket to Work Help Line at 1-866-968-7842 (TTY 1-866-833-2967). Veterans with a service-connected disability can also look at VA’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program (Chapter 31).
Does Vocational Rehabilitation Cost Anything?
It depends on your state and the services in your plan. Federal rules don’t require agencies to consider your income, though a state may choose to ask you to share the cost of some services.
Even in those states, the agency can’t charge you for:
- the assessments to decide eligibility and your needs;
- counseling, guidance and referral;
- job search, placement and retention services;
- personal assistance services;
- interpreters, readers and other aids you need to take part.
If you get SSI or SSDI, you can’t be asked to pay for any VR service.
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies
Use the agency that serves you. In 25 jurisdictions, the table lists a separate agency or unit for people who are blind or visually impaired; elsewhere one agency serves everyone. Each state name links to its page on this site, which also lists Medicaid, ABLE and other state programs. See all states on the states page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Does VR Have to Decide if I'm Eligible?
Federal rules give the agency 60 days from the date you submit your application, and a state can start services earlier on an interim decision. If you say you get SSI or SSDI but don't have your award letter, the agency must check with SSA in time to meet that 60-day deadline.
Can VR Turn Me Down Because My Disability Is Too Severe?
Not without trying first. Before deciding that you can't benefit because of the severity of your disability, the agency must give you trial work experiences, such as supported employment or on-the-job training, with the supports you need. It needs clear and convincing evidence to find you can't benefit.
Do I Have to Live in the State for a Certain Time?
No. Federal rules bar VR agencies from requiring a length of residence. If you're present in the state, you can apply.
Who Can Help if I Disagree With My VR Counselor?
Every state has a client assistance program, and the VR agency must tell you how to contact it when you develop your plan. The agency must also explain your rights and the review process for disputes in writing.
Does Assigning My Ticket Stop SSA's Medical Reviews?
It can. Choose Work says if you assign your Ticket before you get a continuing disability review notice and make timely progress on your plan, SSA won't review your medical condition. If you assign it after you get the notice, the review goes ahead.
Is VA's Veteran Readiness and Employment the Same as State VR?
No. VA runs its own program, Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31, formerly Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment), for service members and veterans whose service-connected disability limits their ability to work. The VA disability guide explains service connection.
More on Health Care and Services
- MedicaidHow people with disabilities qualify for Medicaid: SSI links, working-disabled buy-in and home and community waivers
- MedicareMedicare for SSDI recipients: the waiting period, ALS and kidney failure exceptions and 2026 costs
- ABLE AccountsABLE accounts: eligibility (including the 2026 age change), contribution limits and SSI and Medicaid rules
- SSDIHow Social Security Disability Insurance works: work credits, the disability test, the waiting period, amounts and Medicare
- SSIHow Supplemental Security Income works: income and resource limits, the 2026 federal payment, state supplements and Medicaid
- SSDI vs SSIThe differences between SSDI and SSI, side by side, and when you can get both
This guide explains official rules in plain language. It isn't legal advice, and only the agency that runs a program can decide your case.
Sources
- RSA: State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program
- eCFR: 34 CFR 361.42, eligibility
- eCFR: 34 CFR 361.45, individualized plan for employment
- eCFR: 34 CFR 361.36, order of selection
- eCFR: 34 CFR 361.48, scope of services
- eCFR: 34 CFR 361.54, cost of services
- Choose Work (SSA Ticket to Work): How it works
- VA: Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31)