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importance of work. The Protestant ethic is not dead, but with America's increased technology less people are working than ever before. If this trend continues Posner hypothosizes that the disabled will not be subject

ject

much social criticism for not working as they currently are. Most important, as more and more people do not have to work, society will have to find some means of supporting the nonworkers and the disabled can be included in this

support program.

5

But these speculations belong to the future.

At the present it is still vital that the handicapped

be employed, and the fight to bring the disabled into the

nation's employment force continues. While there have been

no miracles, the steady progress has been heartening. must be intensified.

It

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Footnotes

Employment

1The interview with Posner supplied most of

the information for this chapter, although it is not

cited throughout.

2Interview with Posner.

A Long, Long Way, a program guide published by

the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped (Government Printing Office: Washington, 1971) p. 2.

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Part IV

The Governmental Process

The Times They Are A Changing-

The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1972

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On the surface the Vocational Rehabilitation Act

It

of 1972 looks like a simple piece of legislation. continues a program begun in 1920 which has never been voted against by a single Congressman or Senator in its history. Yet, beneath that calm surface dissatisfaction with the goals of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program

has been growing. The bill approved by the House (HR 8395) in February of 1972 and now before the Senate would

dramatically shift priorities of the Vocational Rehabilitation from assisting only those who with aid could become gainfully employed to include those who could make a contribution to their "family and community" if given assistance.

* As this chapter was written the Senate, in late May of 1972, was still holding hearings on the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. Therefore, it was impossible to say with certainty what the final legislation would be like. But there was little doubt among those interviewed in Washington that a version of the House bill would pass the Senate and the House and Senate Conference committee. A Presidential veto was seen as highly unlikely.

110

The Vocational Rehabilitation Act merits

attention because it is a case study in how legislation for the handicapped is formulated and also indicates the turmoil that is going on within rehabilitation circles with the & growing contingent that contend that rehabilitation services are not going to those who most need them--the severely disabled. The severely disabled are defined as "those who are under a disability so serious as to limit substantially their ability to function....and who with the aid of comprehensive rehabilitation services can reasonably be expected to improve substantially their ability to live independently and function normally in their family or community.1

The House Committee on Select Education which conducted hearings throughout February of 1972 concluded that not enough was being done to aid the severely disabled. The severely disabled were not receiving aid because, in the opinion of their vocational rehabilitation counselors they could not become gainfully employed even if they received rehabilitation services. Because the Committee felt the severely disabled should be covered under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act it added a Title III to the bill which provided services to the severely disabled even if they were not judged to be employable.

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"To express its concern for the
severely handicapped, the Committee has
created a new Title III which provides
services to individuals who were so
severely handicapped that the vocational
goal of the basic program (Title I)
may not be possible to achieve. Title III
should be used to bring about a degree
of independent living in order to make
the severely handicapped (as defined in
Title III) more self-sufficient, less
reliant on others, and better able to
care for themselves."
112

The Committee, however, emphasized the severely disabled could be employed if they received vocational

rehabilitation and urged they be given top priority under Title I. "The Committee is concerned for the significant number of severely disabled persons who could be returned to gainful employment if greater emphasis were placed on accepting such clients for services providing them with a comprehensive array of social adjustment and training opportunities."3

HEW originally ignored Title III, not including

a similar provision in Senator Taft's bill (which was introduced before the Senate after the House bill as the

administration's idea of what the Vocational Rehabilitation

Program should be. Later HEW decided not to strongly oppose Title III in the Senate hearing. By that time, Title III had received the backing of most of the members of the Senate Sub-Committee on the Handicapped.

Senator

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