Influence of Agency Structure and Client Characteristics
on Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Outcomes
for Individuals who are Blind
Brenda S. Cavenaugh, Ph.D., CRC
Abstract - Study 2
Consumers and practitioners in blindness rehabilitation
support the premise that individuals who are blind or severely
visually impaired have unique vocational rehabilitation (VR) needs
and are best served in identifiable agencies, established
especially for that purpose. The scarcity of empirically-based
data supporting this position has hampered objective dialogue
within the disability community regarding the continued funding of
separate (blindness-only) agencies under the state-federal VR
program. This study investigated differences in VR service
intensity (expenditures, number, and duration of services) and
outcomes (competitive sector placement and earnings) of legally
blind consumers in states with separate or combined
(cross-disability) agencies.
The sample included 35,396 legally blind consumers closed in
the 50 states by the state VR system in 1995 and 1996. Case data
from 1995 were used to identify client disability and demographic
characteristics related to competitive closure and to construct the
Index of Work Disadvantage at Referral (IWDR) to control for these
characteristics in the investigation of VR services and outcome.
Scores on the IWDR covariate were computed using a summed weighting
system based on frequencies and simple correlations of demographic
variables with outcome. The covariate was cross-validated using
1989, 1992, and 1994 RSA-911 data and then applied to the 1996
data.
A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) using
variables aggregated by state found no significant differences in
the combined set of dependent variables across agency structure
types after adjusting for demographic differences using the IWDR
covariate. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) used to investigate
differences in client earnings across agency structure types showed
that client earnings at closures were significantly higher (medium
effect size) in separate agency states than in combined agency
states. A second ANCOVA used to investigate differences in
competitive sector placement determined that placement rate was
significantly higher (medium effect size) in separate agency states
than in combined agency states, when employing either covariate.
Conclusions - Study 2
For more than two decades after the passage in 1920 of the
first civilian vocational rehabilitation program, blind people were
generally presumed unemployable by VR agencies. With the
Barden-LaFollette Act of 1943, Congress responded to the failure of
VR agencies to address the rehabilitation needs of blind consumers
by allowing states to designate separate state agencies to
administer VR programs serving individuals who are blind or
visually impaired. In response to questions regarding the efficacy
of these agencies in serving consumers who are legally blind,
finding from the current research indicate:
1. Competitive sector placement rates are higher in separate
agency states than combined agency states (35% vs. 29%,
respectively).
2. Client weekly earnings at closure is higher in separate agency
states than in combined agency states (102.76 vs. 86.71,
respectively).
3. There is no difference in the combined set of service
variables (cost, duration, and number) across separate and combined
agency states.
References
Cavenaugh, B. S., Giesen, J. M., Pierce, S. J. (in press).
Blindness rehabilitation in separate and combined vocational
rehabilitation agencies. Journal of Visual Impairment and
Blindness.
Cavenaugh, B. S., & Pierce, S. J. (1998). Characteristics,
services, and outcomes of rehabilitation consumers who are blind or
visually impaired served in separate and general agencies
(Technical Report). Mississippi State: Mississippi State
University, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on
Blindness and Low Vision.
Cavenaugh, B. S. (in press). Influence of Agency Structure and
client characteristics on services and outcomes for individuals who
are Blind. Doctoral dissertation, Mississippi State University.
Edwards, P. (1997, March). Testimony delivered to the
National Council on Disability. Testimony delivered at the NCD
quarterly meeting, Albuquerque, NM.
National Council on Disability. (1997). Reauthorization of
the Rehabilitation Act: A report of the Public Policy Committee
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National Council on Disability. (1997). A statement by the
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blind" and the Rehabilitation Act program of "Independent Living
Services to Older Blind Individuals." Unpublished document.