The Florida Senate

413.20  Definitions.--As used in this part, the term:

(1)  "Act" means the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

(2)  "Activity of daily living" means an activity required on a frequent basis that permits an individual to secure or maintain independence. Such activities include, but are not limited to, personal home care, transportation, personal assistance services, housekeeping, shopping, attending school, communication, and employment.

(3)  "Assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs" means a review of existing data to determine whether an individual is eligible for vocational rehabilitation services and to assign the priority, and, to the extent additional data is necessary to make such determination and assignment, a preliminary assessment of such data, including the provision of goods and services during such assessment. If additional data is necessary, the division must make a comprehensive assessment of the unique strengths, resources, priorities, interests, and needs, including the need for supported employment, of an eligible individual to make a determination of the goals, objectives, nature, and scope of vocational rehabilitation services to be included in the individualized written rehabilitation program of the individual.

(4)  "Center for independent living" means a consumer-controlled, community-based, cross-disability, nonresidential, private, nonprofit organization designed and operated within a local community by persons who have disabilities to provide an array of independent living services.

(5)  "Department" means the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

(6)  "Disability" means a physical or mental impairment that constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment.

(7)  "Division" means the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

(8)  "Emergency medical evacuation system" means a division-approved transportation system that provides timely skilled emergency care and movement of persons believed to have suffered brain or spinal cord injuries.

(9)  "Employment outcome" means, with respect to an individual, entering or retaining full-time or, if appropriate, part-time competitive employment in the integrated labor market or satisfying any other vocational outcome the secretary may determine to be consistent with the act.

(10)  "Extended services" means one or more ongoing support services and other appropriate services needed to support and maintain a person who has a severe disability in supported employment and to assist an eligible person in maintaining integrated and competitive employment. Extended services are based upon a determination of the needs of the eligible person as specified in the person's individualized written rehabilitation program and are provided by a state agency, a nonprofit private organization, an employer, or any other appropriate resource after the person has made the transition from support provided by the department.

(11)  "Independent living core services" means informational and referral services; independent living skills training; peer counseling, including cross-disability peer counseling; and individual and systems advocacy.

(12)  "Independent living services" means any appropriate rehabilitation service that will enhance the ability of a person who has a severe disability to live independently, to function within her or his family and community and, if appropriate, to secure and maintain employment. Services may include, but are not limited to, psychological counseling and psychotherapeutic counseling; independent living care services; community education and related services; housing assistance; physical and mental restoration; personal attendant care; transportation; personal assistance services; interpretive services for persons who are deaf; recreational activities; services to family members of persons who have severe disabilities; vocational and other training services; telecommunications services; sensory and other technological aids and devices; appropriate preventive services to decrease the needs of persons assisted under the program; and other rehabilitation services appropriate for the independent living needs of a person who has a severe disability.

(13)  "Limiting disability" means a physical condition that constitutes, contributes to, or, if not corrected, will result in an impairment of one or more activities of daily living but does not result in an individual qualifying as a person who has a disability.

(14)  "Occupational license" means any license, permit, or other written authority required by any governmental unit to be obtained in order to engage in an occupation.

(15)  "Ongoing support services" means services provided at a twice-monthly minimum to persons who have severe disabilities, to:

(a)  Make an assessment regarding the employment situation at the worksite of each individual in supported employment or, under special circumstances at the request of the individual, offsite.

(b)  Based upon the assessment, provide for the coordination or provision of specific intensive services, at or away from the worksite, that are needed to maintain the individual's employment stability.

The ongoing support services may consist of, but are not limited to, the provision of skilled job trainers who accompany the individual for intensive job-skill training at the worksite, job development and placement, social skills training, followup services, and facilitation of natural supports at the worksite.

(16)  "Person who has a disability" means an individual who has a physical or mental impairment that, for the individual, constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment and who can therefore benefit in terms of an employment outcome from vocational rehabilitation services. The term encompasses the term "person who has a severe disability."

(17)  "Person who has a severe disability" means an individual who has a disability that is a severe physical or mental impairment that seriously limits one or more functional capacities, such as mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction, interpersonal skills, work tolerance, or work skills, in terms of an employment outcome; whose vocational rehabilitation may be expected to require multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time; and who has one or more physical or mental disabilities resulting from amputation, arthritis, autism, blindness, burn injury, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, deafness, head injury, heart disease, hemiplegia, hemophilia, respiratory or pulmonary dysfunction, mental retardation, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, musculoskeletal disorder, neurological disorder, including stroke and epilepsy, paraplegia, quadriplegia, or other spinal cord condition, sickle-cell anemia, specific learning disability, end-stage renal disease, or another disability or a combination of disabilities that is determined, after an assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs, to cause comparable substantial functional limitation.

(18)  "Personal assistance services" means a range of services, provided by one or more persons, designed to assist a person who has a disability to perform daily living activities on or off the job that the individual would typically perform if the individual did not have a disability. Such services shall be designed to increase the individual's control in life and ability to perform everyday activities on or off the job.

(19)  "Physical and mental restoration" means any medical, surgical, or therapeutic treatment necessary to correct or substantially modify a physical or mental condition that is stable or slowly progressive and constitutes an impediment to employment, but is of such nature that such correction or modification may reasonably be expected to eliminate or reduce such impediment to employment within a reasonable length of time, including, but not limited to, medical, psychiatric, dental, and surgical treatment, nursing services, hospital care in connection with surgery or treatment, convalescent home care, drugs, medical and surgical supplies, and prosthetic and orthotic devices.

(20)  "Rehabilitation" means those events and processes occurring after injury and progressing to ultimate stabilization and maximum possible recovery.

(21)  "Rehabilitation center" means a division-approved facility providing intermediate care that stresses rehabilitation for persons who have brain or spinal cord injuries.

(22)  "Rehabilitation service" means any service, provided directly or indirectly through public or private agencies, found by the division to be necessary to enable a person who has a limiting disability to engage in competitive employment.

(23)  "Rules" means rules made by the department and promulgated in the manner prescribed by law.

(24)  "Secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

(25)  "State plan" means the state plan approved by the Federal Government as qualifying for federal funds under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. However, the term "state plan," as used in ss. 413.39-413.401, means the State Plan for Independent Living Rehabilitative Services under Title VII(A) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

(26)  "Supported employment" means competitive work in integrated working settings for persons who have severe disabilities and for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred or for whom competitive employment has been interrupted or is intermittent as a result of a severe disability. Persons who have severe disabilities requiring supported employment need intensive supported employment services or extended services in order to perform such work.

(27)  "Supported employment services" means ongoing support services and other appropriate services needed to support and maintain a person who has a severe disability in supported employment. Supported employment services are based upon a determination of the needs of the eligible individual as specified in the person's individualized written rehabilitation program. The services are provided singly or in combination and are organized and made available in such a way as to assist eligible individuals in entering or maintaining integrated, competitive employment. The services are provided for a period of time not to extend beyond 18 months, but can be extended under special circumstances with the consent of the individual to achieve the objectives of the rehabilitation plan.

(28)  "Third-party coverage" means any claim for, right to receive payment for or any coverage for, the payment of any vocational rehabilitation and related services.

(29)  "Third-party payment" means any and all payments received or due as a result of any third-party coverage.

(30)  "Transition services" means a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome-oriented process, that promote movement from school to postschool activities, including postsecondary education; vocational training; integrated employment; including supported employment; continuing and adult education; adult services; independent living; or community participation. The coordinated set of activities must be based upon the individual student's needs, taking into account the student's preferences and interests, and must include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other postschool adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.

(31)  "Transitional living facility" means a state-approved facility as defined and licensed pursuant to chapter 400 and division-approved in accord with this part.

(32)  "Trauma center" means a state-approved acute care facility that provides diagnosis and treatment of persons who have brain or spinal cord injuries.

(33)  "Traumatic injury" means:

(a)  A lesion to the spinal cord or cauda equina with evidence of significant involvement of two of the following deficits or dysfunctions:

1.  Motor deficit.

2.  Sensory deficit.

3.  Bowel and bladder dysfunction; or

(b)  An insult to the skull, brain, or its covering, resulting from external trauma which produces an altered state of consciousness or anatomic motor, sensory, cognitive, or behavioral deficits.

(34)  "Vocational rehabilitation" and "vocational rehabilitation services" mean any service, provided directly or through public or private instrumentalities, to enable an individual or group of individuals to achieve an employment outcome, including, but not limited to, medical and vocational diagnosis, an assessment for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs by qualified personnel; counseling, guidance, and work-related placement services; vocational and other training services; physical and mental restoration services; maintenance for additional costs incurred while participating in rehabilitation; interpreter services for individuals who are deaf; recruitment and training services to provide new employment opportunities in the fields of rehabilitation, health, welfare, public safety, law enforcement, and other appropriate service employment; occupational licenses; tools, equipment, and initial stocks and supplies; transportation; telecommunications, sensory, and other technological aids and devices; rehabilitation technology services; referral services designed to secure needed services from other agencies; transition services; on-the-job or other related personal assistance services; and supported employment services.

(35)  "Vocational rehabilitation and related services" means any services that are provided or paid for by the division.

History.--s. 2, ch. 25364, 1949; s. 13, ch. 65-239; ss. 15, 19, 35, ch. 69-106; ss. 1, 2, ch. 69-344; s. 158, ch. 71-377; s. 302, ch. 77-147; s. 111, ch. 79-164; s. 21, ch. 86-220; s. 8, ch. 90-330; s. 4, ch. 94-324; s. 58, ch. 97-103.

Note.--Former ss. 229.26, 229.0100.