Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 6, September 16, 2024
(a) The following
services are provided by the Division of Services for the Blind under this
Section:
(1) In-Home Aide Services: Chore
Services for the Blind. In-Home Aide Services are those services which assist
the individual or family with essential home management tasks necessary to
enable the individual and family to remain and function effectively at home for
as long as possible.
(2) Adjustment
Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. These are services provided in
any combination as needed and appropriate to enable blind and visually impaired
individuals to attain or maintain the highest level of functioning possible, to
promote their well-being, and to prevent or reduce dependency. This is achieved
through a focused regimen of counseling and casework assistance to individuals
and their families to help individuals choose, obtain, and use needed
resources, services, and mechanisms of support. Within this context one or more
of the following service components or resource items may be provided as part
of the Adjustment Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired category.
(A) Assistance with the demands of daily
living may be provided through training in areas such as grooming skills;
manipulative skills such as the use of household appliances; money
identification and communication skills such as braille, typing, and use of the
telephone;
(B) The teaching of
orientation and mobility skills;
(C) Therapeutic experiences aimed at helping
the individual to adjust to and accept his visual limitations through camping
experiences, recreational programs, adjustment training at rehabilitation
centers, and individual and group counseling sessions;
(D) The following services/items may be
provided: reader services, interpreter services for the deaf/blind, braille,
large print and taped material, low vision optical aids, travel aids and
devices, community sponsored recreational activities, devices to support
independence such as talking clocks, talking calculators, and braille
watches.
(3) Individual
and Family Adjustment Services. These services are designed to assist the
consumer and his or her family in adjusting to the consumer's vision loss,
making necessary accommodations and modifications to the environment after
vision loss, and identifying community supports. Activities may include
counseling to assist the consumer to recognize, understand, and cope with
problems in such areas as household management, consumer affairs, family life
education, and other disabling conditions.
(4) Health Support Services. These services
provide help to individuals and families to recognize health needs including
those related to alcohol and drug abuse and to secure needed health services
available under medicaid, medicare, or other agency health services programs
and from other public or private agencies or providers of health services;
counseling and planning with individuals, families, and health providers to
help assure continuity of treatment and the carrying out of health
recommendations; and helping individuals to secure admission to medical
institutions and other health-related facilities as needed.
(5) Housing and Home Improvement Services.
These services provide assistance to individuals and families in obtaining and
retaining housing and basic furnishings. Services include helping to improve
landlord-tenant relations, to identify housing, to secure correction of housing
code violations, to obtain or retain ownership of own home, and to find and
relocate to more suitable housing.
(6) Information and Referral. This means
giving information about services provided under the state's social services
program and other service programs, both public and private; brief assessment
to determine the most appropriate resource to meet the stated needs of the
person requesting services; and referral to and follow-up with those community
resources which provide or make available such services.
(b) The following services are mandated in
all parts of the state; the responsibility for the provision of these services
rests with the Division of Services for the Blind.
(1) In-Home Aide Services;
(2) adjustment services for the blind and
visually impaired.