Agency Type as Predictor of Employment Outcomes for Persons with Visual Impairments: Current Trends and Considerations

Abstract

Persons with visual disabilities receive vocational rehabilitation (VR) services through general, combined or separate agencies within the public system. Currently there are 32 combined, 24 separate and 24 general agencies in the United States (US). This study examined the role of agency type in predicting employment outcome of persons with visual impairments using the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911) data, which is a comprehensive database of clients exiting the public vocational rehabilitation system. The study compared separate and combined agencies. Persons with blindness and other visual impairments exiting public vocational rehabilitation during four fiscal years (2008 – 2011) participated in this study. Outcomes of binary logistic regressions indicate that agency affiliation is not a significant predictor of successful closures when controlling for employment status at application and major demographic variables. Implications of these findings, limitations of the current study and future research recommendations are discussed.