2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 1 - General Provisions › Article 21 - Vocational Rehabilitation › 1002 - Definitions.

§ 1002. Definitions. As used in this article:
1.  "Handicapped  person"  means any person who in the judgment of the
department is under a physical or mental disability which constitutes  a
substantial  handicap  to  employment but which is of such a nature that
vocational rehabilitation services may reasonably be expected to  render
him  fit  to  engage  in gainful employment, and also any person under a
physical or mental disability which constitutes a  substantial  handicap
to  employment  and  for  whom  vocational  rehabilitation  services are
necessary to ascertain his rehabilitation potential.
2. "Person who is under a physical  or  mental  disability"  means  an
individual  who has a physical or mental condition which in the judgment
of the department limits, contributes to limiting, or, if not corrected,
will result in limiting his activities or functioning.
3. "Substantial handicap to  employment"  means  that  a  physical  or
mental  disability  (in  the  light of attendant medical, psychological,
vocational, educational,  cultural,  social  or  environmental  factors)
impedes  an  individual's  occupational  performance,  by preventing his
obtaining, retaining, or preparing for a gainful  occupation  consistent
with his capacities and abilities.
4.   "Gainful   occupation"   includes  any  employment  for  which  a
compensation is paid either in goods and/or in services; practice  of  a
profession;  self-employment; homemaking, farm or family work (including
work for which payment is  in  kind  rather  than  in  cash);  sheltered
employment; and home industries or other gainful homebound work.
5. "Vocational rehabilitation services" means:
a. Any goods and services necessary to render a handicapped person fit
to engage in a gainful occupation and includes:
(1.) Evaluation, including diagnostic and related services;
(2.) Counseling and Guidance;
(3.) Training;
(4.) Placement;
(5.)  Reader  service where necessary for individuals who are visually
handicapped and interpreter services in the case of individuals who  are
deaf;
(6.) Attendants and amanuenses where required;
(7.) Occupational and business licenses;
(8.) Books, training supplies and fees;
(9.) Transportation;
(10.) Physical restoration services;
(11.)  Maintenance payments to cover the handicapped person's expenses
essential to achievement of his vocational rehabilitation objective;
(12.) Tools, equipment, initial stocks and supplies;
(13.) Training allowances which may be paid to  individuals  receiving
training  and  related services in public and other non-profit workshops
and rehabilitation facilities to the  extent  that  funds  may  be  made
available for this purpose;
(14.)  Other  goods  and services, not enumerated in this subdivision,
necessary to render a handicapped person fit  to  engage  in  a  gainful
occupation.
b.  The  establishment  of  public  and other nonprofit rehabilitation
facilities for handicapped persons;  the  establishment  of  public  and
other nonprofit workshops for the severely handicapped; and the staffing
of  public and other nonprofit workshops for the severely handicapped so
that workshops may be established, extended, improved or continued.
6. "Physical restoration services" mean those  medical  and  medically
related  services which are necessary to correct or substantially modify
within a reasonable period of time a physical or mental condition  which

is  stable  or  slowly  progressive  and which constitutes a substantial
handicap to employment, and includes (but is not limited to):
a. corrective surgery or therapeutic treatment;
b.  necessary  hospitalization in connection with surgery or treatment
specified in (a);
c. prosthetic devices essential to obtaining or retaining  employment;
and
d. other necessary medical or medically related services.
7.  "Rehabilitation  facility"  means  a  facility,  operated  for the
principal purpose of assisting  in  the  rehabilitation  of  handicapped
persons and
a. provides one or more than one of the following types of services:
1. prevocational or conditioning therapy;
2. adjustment training;
3. testing, fitting or training in the use of prosthetic devices;
4. physical or occupational therapy;
5. evaluation, treatment or control of special disabilities; or
b.  through  which  is  provided  an  integrated  program  of medical,
psychological, social  and  vocational  evaluation  and  services  under
appropriate professional supervision, provided that the major portion of
such  evaluation and services is furnished within the facility, and that
all medical and related health services are prescribed by and are  under
the supervision of persons licensed to practice medicine in the state.
8.  "Workshop"  means  a  place  where any manufacture or handiwork is
carried on and which is operated for the principle purpose of  providing
gainful  employment  to  severely  handicapped persons (a) as an interim
step in the rehabilitation process for those who cannot be  absorbed  in
the  competitive  labor  market;  or  (b) during such time as employment
opportunities for them in the competitive labor market do not exist.
9. "Establishment of a workshop" or "rehabilitation facility" means:
a. In the case of a workshop, the expansion, remodeling, or alteration
of existing buildings, necessary to adapt  such  buildings  to  workshop
purposes  or  to increase the employment opportunities in workshops, and
the acquisition of initial equipment necessary for new workshops  or  to
increase the employment opportunities in workshops; and
b.   In   the  case  of  a  rehabilitation  facility,  the  expansion,
remodeling, or alteration of existing buildings, and  initial  equipment
of  such  buildings, necessary to adapt such buildings to rehabilitation
facility purposes or to increase their effectiveness for  such  purposes
and initial staffing thereof for a period not exceeding one year.
10.  With  respect to the construction of workshops and rehabilitation
facilities, the following definitions shall apply:
a. "Construction" includes construction of new buildings,  acquisition
of  existing  buildings,  and  expansion,  remodeling,  alteration,  and
renovation of existing buildings, and initial  equipment  of  such  new,
newly acquired, expanded, remodeled, altered or renovated buildings;
b. The "cost" of construction may include the cost of architects' fees
and  acquisition  of  land in connection with construction, but does not
include the cost of offsite improvements.
c. A "project for construction of a workshop" may  include  provisions
for residential accommodations to be used by and in conjunction with the
rehabilitation  of  categories  of  handicapped  individuals  as  may be
hereafter designated.
11. "Supported employment" means paid competitive  work  performed  by
individuals  with  severe  disabilities  who  require  intensive support
services to obtain such employment and extended support to sustain  such
employment,  and  which  is  performed  in  an  integrated setting which

provides  regular  interactions  with  individuals  who  do   not   have
disabilities, other than paid caregivers.
12.  "Supported  employment services" means support services needed by
individuals with severe disabilities to  obtain  and  sustain  supported
employment.   Such  term  shall  also  include  transitional  employment
services for individuals with severe and persistent mental  illness,  as
defined by the commissioner in consultation with the commissioner of the
office of mental health.
13.  "Paid  competitive  work", as used in the definition of supported
employment pursuant to subdivision eleven of  this  section  means  work
that  is  performed  on  a  full-time or part-time basis, with a minimum
expectation of averaging at least twenty hours per week as an employment
goal, except that such requirement may be waived for good cause  by  the
commissioner,  and  for which an individual is compensated in accordance
with the federal fair labor standards act and the  state  department  of
labor wage and hour regulations.
14.  "Individuals  with  severe  disabilities"  means persons for whom
competitive employment has either not traditionally occurred or has been
interrupted or intermittent as  a  result  of  having  a  permanent  and
substantially disabling physical, sensory, or mental condition.