1. Rehabilitation Technology And Employment
Louisiana Workforce Commission,
Louisiana Rehabilitation Services

2. New Standards for Assistive Technology
Based on drastic state cuts to the Vocational Rehabilitation budget, the following standard-purchase items are the maximum-cost equipment that can be purchased for our consumers.

3. Standard Wheelchair

4. Prosthetics

5. Vehicle Modifications

6. Home Modifications

7. Manual Ceiling Lift

8. JUST KIDDING!
LRS continues to provide quality AT Services despite cutbacks and restructuring. This program overviews how LRS Counselors help Job-Seekers in their quest for employment

9. Louisiana Rehabilitation Services Mission
To assist persons with disabilities in their desire to obtain or maintain employment and/or to achieve independence in their community by providing rehabilitation services and by working cooperatively with business and other community services.

10. Scope of Services
Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), LRS can provide these services to persons with disabilities who are seeking, or wish to retain employment:
Rehabilitation Engineering
Assistive Technology Services
Assistive Technology Devices

11. Need Determination
Counselors are authorized to pay for evaluation or assessments to verify need for RT/AT services or devices.
Comparable Services must be used if known and available (for example insurance carrier or Medicare).
Price-comparison quotes are not required if the AT is personalized or custom-fit.

12. Rehabilitation Engineering Services are:
Services provided or supervised by a licensed, professional engineer if:
Service involves design or modifications
The problem is complex
Equipment is very costly (structural modification to a building for example)
Safety and materials strength are factors

13. Assistive Technology Service is:
a direct service to assist a person in selecting, acquiring or learning to use an assistive technology device.
provided by therapists, educators, and specialists (ex: speech therapist, low vision specialist or others with Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP) certification.

14. Assistive Technology Services may include:
Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, maintaining, repairing, or replacing assistive technology
Evaluating, assessing the needs of the consumer (including functional evaluation in their personal living/working environment as in job or home modification-assessments)

15. Assistive Technology Services may include:
Specialized training with assistive technologies (such as JAWS™ low-vision software)
Augmentative Communication (devices and/or software)
Adaptive driving systems (such as hand-controls, driving from a wheelchair)

16. Assistive Technology (AT) Devices are:
“any items, pieces of equipment or system (whether ‘off-the-shelf’, modified, customized or fabricated) that will be used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capacities of persons with disabilities”

17. Examples of AT Devices:
Aids for Daily Living (ADL tools) for eating, bathing, cooking, dressing and/or toileting.
Augmentative Communication devices to assist with expressive and receptive communication.
Computer adaptations: voice out-put or in-put, Braille, environmental controls etc.

18. More examples of AT devices:
Wheelchairs and wheeled mobility devices
Seating and positioning components (for wheelchair, driving or worksite seating, such as cushions or wedges)
Vision or Hearing Aids (magnifiers, brailer devices, hearing amplifiers, text generators, eyeglasses or canes or video-relay phones

20. Prodigi® Digital Magnifier

21. Automatic Door Opener

22. Porch lift installation

23. Powered Wheelchair with vertical riser used by Pharmacist
Powered Wheelchair used by Pharmacist

24. Electronic Driving Controls

25. Mechanical Hand Controls Mechanical hand Controls
Push/Right Angle
Push/Pull
Push/Rock
Push/Twist
Mechanical hand Controls
Mechanical hand controls are the most simple adaptive means of operating the accelerator and brake. They are physical attachments to the pedals and are operated by two separate motions.
There are several types of mechanical controls—differentiated by the accelerator motion.
A push/right-angle hand control operates with the handle being pushed forward for brake and by pulling down at a right angle for accelerator control.
Sources: Creative Controls, Inc.
Handicaps, Inc.
M.P.S. Corporation
Mobility Products and Design
Wells-Engberg Company

26. Michelangelo® Prosthetic Hand by Otto Bok

27. Driving with artificial hands

28. ADA/UFAS Accessible Bus Stop
For non-drivers, public, rural-urban transit options include on-demand, elderly-disabled transportation services under USC , and 5210 programs funded with La Department of Transportation Development (DOTD)

29. Counselors are authorized to:
Pay for evaluations/assessments by therapists, engineers and/or AT practitioners (ATP-certified)
Request that vendors of AT provide a “try-before-buy” opportunity and set-up and training if required.
Note: Consumers must acknowledge in-writing that they are satisfied with AT

30. Resources: Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (RESNA)
Job Accomodation Network (JAN) (800)  
National Institute on Disability and Independent Living Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Network (LATAN) Baton Rouge, LA, Director, Yakima Black
(800)
Louisiana Workforce Commission, LRS
Louisiana Rehabilitation Services, AT Program Coordinator, John Schweitzer (225)