You just landed a job with a state Vocational Rehabilitation agency and have been assigned to be your office's Business Services liaison. Congratulations!

Now what?

For some, this assignment would be met with dread. Those who entered the field to be counselors may not feel equipped to work with employers. Counseling and Business Services would appear to require very different skill sets.

Or do they?

The truth is that counseling and working with employers require active listening skills, disability awareness, and expertise in accommodations.

Active Listening

Active listening is the bedrock skill of the counseling profession. Moreover, as noted in a previous module, counselors use their listening skills to help youth identify their interests and abilities and match those attributes with compatible occupations.

The counselor can use the same skill to help employers identify their unmet business needs and match those needs with compatible interests and abilities of youth with disabilities.

Disability Awareness

Let's begin this section with two questions:

1. What do you think is the most significant barrier for people with disabilities?
2. Why is the term "disabled" considered to be offensive?

These two questions and their answers encapsulate the gist of disability awareness.

We have learned that the most significant barrier for people with disabilities is other people. The misconceptions held by others about people with disabilities can be more debilitating than a physical barrier. We have learned, too, that being labeled as "disabled" renders one's disability a defining characteristic. Disability does not define who people are. It is only one of many aspects that make up a person.

While the misconceptions held and the labels applied by others can have detrimental effects, they are often not intentional. VR professionals can kindly challenge misconceptions and labels, helping others see that they and their fellow citizens with disabilities are more alike than different. They both have interests, aspirations, priorities, and concerns.

Research tells us that employers are often uncomfortable talking to people with disabilities. The discomfort is a byproduct of no understanding or misunderstanding. Consequently, a big part of our job is building understanding by helping employers see through misconceptions to:

• the commonalities they share with people with disabilities, and
• the qualifications employees with disabilities can use to fulfill the employer's business needs
  

Doing so can decrease discomfort and build a bridge between an employer's need and the employee's contribution. Disability becomes secondary.

Accommodation Expertise

Another aspect of business services is helping employers identify accommodations that will help them land new qualified employees or retain existing valuable employees. VR professionals understand impediments to employment and how to overcome them with accommodations. Along with active listening, VR pros bring built-in disability awareness and accommodation expertise to the employer's table.

VR professionals are ideally suited for Business Services after all!

To summarize, this course will teach VR professionals how to use their knowledge and skills to build relationships with employers, increase employers' disability awareness, and build bridges between their business needs and the contributions of qualified candidates who happen to have disabilities.

Next Up: Why Business Services?