Vocational | Vocational Resources

Vocational

Choosing and finding work that best meets our needs and uses our skills is challenging for everyone. A brain injury can radically change a person's needs and abilities, greatly influencing his or her work life. This section describes employment training and education programs available in Illinois for persons with disabilities including brain injury. This section is written in a way that addresses persons with brain injury directly.

Assess Needs and Abilities

Depending on the nature and severity of your brain injury, you may or may not be able to return to the same or similar job that you had before your brain injury. You should take extra care in assessing your job skills and assets, as well as your deficits. You want to be reasonable and realistic in your self-assessment and expectations. Some persons with brain injury have trouble with distractibility, decision-making, fatigue, learning difficulties, and relations with co-workers.

You have several options. You can prepare for work, go back to school to learn material, or prepare for a volunteer job.

Volunteering

One excellent way to restore and explore job skills and work habits is through volunteering. Voluntary work can give you valuable experience and can be extremely rewarding. It adds to your resume and helps you feel more connected to the people around you. Plus, you can make a significant contribution to the world around us.

Supported Employment

Supported employment assists individuals with establishing vocational goals, finding a job, and on-the-job training and support. Once you are placed in a job, an employment coach works side by side with you to teach you how to perform the job. The job coach may also assist you in forming relationships with co-workers and understanding acceptable standards of behavior.

Transitional Employment

Transitional employment helps prepare an individual for full-time employment. Usually, persons in transitional employment work part time with the assistance of the employer and/or an employment coach. Transitional employment is for a limited period of time, generally no longer than six months.

Working With Your Employer

It is very possible that your current employer does not have the knowledge about brain injury that is needed to assist you in returning to work. The Office of Rehabilitation Services will provide counselors that work with you and your employer to help everyone understand how the workplace can be adjusted to help you do your job.

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology devices and services can help persons with disabilities be independent and successful in the workplace. A person can use assistive technology to help him or her with communication, moving around, working with computers, taking notes, and many other job responsibilities. An individual's need for assistive technology services will obviously depend upon the type of work to be performed and the nature of the disabilities. In some cases, employers, insurance companies, or Rehabilitation Services Vocational Rehabilitation Program may pay for assistive technology for persons with disabilities. Talk to a vocational rehabilitation counselor to discuss assistive technology options.