Transition Map

Networking and Planning

Community connections to employment can mean asking your local supermarket manager if the store is hiring or visiting your local OVR office. Finding a job is all about networking and following leads. Some places to begin:

Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
Phone: 1-800-221-1042

OVR, a division of the Department of Labor and Industry, works with families, the Office of Mental Retardation, and schools in assisting adults with disabilities prepare for and find appropriate employment. During the final year of high school, students should be referred to OVR by the OMR/BSU case manager or by his/her parents.

You should:

• Work closely with your supports coordinator from the Office of Mental Retardation/BSU in coordinating services from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
• Discuss post-high school education and training options, such as community colleges and vocational schools, with your child, the IEP team, your supports coordinator from OMR/BSU, and a vocational counselor from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. Call those colleges or vocational schools to ask about supports offered by their office of disability services. What non-credit courses do they offer to students with developmental delay? What documentation of disability do they require?
• Request a community-based work assessment from OVR for your son or daughter. This involves choosing an appropriate job/s based on your child's abilities and interests, and then observing your child's job performance at the job site/s.
• Choose an adult services provider agency, such as Ken-Crest, to provide on-site job coaching, usually funded through OVR. Then, contact that provider agency's liaison with OVR to expedite the initial OVR intake meeting.
• Discuss how your child will get to and from work, and whether he/she will need public transportation training and services.

Social Security Administration
Phone: 1-800-772-1213
See Other Information and Resources page for information about Social Security disability and SSI.

The Red Book serves as a general reference source about the employment-related provisions of Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income Programs for educators, advocates, rehabilitation professionals, and counselors who serve people with disabilities. Available online at ssa.gov/redbook.

PABSS Project. Pennsylvania Protection & Advocacy, Inc. (PP&A) is concerned that the state's citizens with disabilities are not taking full advantage of one of our programs. It is called PABSS, which stands for Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security.

These services are for Social Security beneficiaries who are in the process of preparing for work, seeking work, or working. The PABSS Project protects the rights of SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients who have a disability and wish to gain or continue work. PABSS services are free.

The PABSS Project assists Social Security beneficiaries to overcome discrimination and barriers to obtaining work, returning to work, and/or maintaining work. This includes barriers that impede access to vocational and rehabilitation services, barriers to employment and support services (including transportation) necessary to enter the workplace, and reasonable accommodation s for your disability at your place of employment.

Please contact us with questions or concerns:
Pennsylvania Protection & Advocacy, Inc.
1414 North Cameron Street, Suite C
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17103
(800) 692-7443 ext 301 or (877) 375-7139 (TDD/TTY)
Email: intake@ppainc.org
Website: ppainc.org

If we are not immediately available, please leave your name and telephone number with area code and we will return your call. Please feel free to pass along this information to other persons who may benefit from it and/or to include this information in other listservs and newsletters.