The New York State Board of Regents has changed the name of a state service organization, removing the word “disabilities” from its title.
Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID) has been changed to Adult Career and Continuing Education Services (ACCES), expanding the office’s reach to people with and without disabilities. The board made the decision at its December 2010 meeting.
VESID was once a combination of vocational rehabilitation, independent living and special education services. Then the special education portion was moved by the State Education Department to improve integration, said Robert Gumson, Manager of Independent Living Services for the organization now called ACCES. The change is part of a series of recent reorganizations within the department.
Gumson said the organization’s mission to serve people with disabilities with vocational rehabilitation shares goals with other programs that provide literacy, self-care and financial education. “These are all aimed at people with and without disabilities so that’s why they decided to move it,” said Gumson.
“It’s not going to change anything about the actual program function and how the vocational service and independent living is provided. We will continue to do business as we’ve always done it,” Gumson said.
Gumson also cited a benefit of the change, saying all programs will have to include people with disabilities. For example, adult service programs will be forced to accommodate classroom accessibility and GED testing will have to offer voice interpretation services.
Susan Dooha, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, said the center hopes the change will present new opportunities to improve employment and education for people with disabilities.
“We look forward to identifying synergies among the ACCES partners. We will be looking for them to call upon the expertise of the independent living community and in relation to vocational rehabilitation in the areas of workforce and adult education,” Dooha said.
Marvin Wasserman, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, pointed out that the name was changed in the last few decades from OVR (Office of Vocational Rehabilitation) to VESID, preceding the current change.
“I'm not sure that, along with the bigger mandate, the agency will have a bigger budget. Then, of course, there is the issue of how much will this cost? Will the cost come out of the programming budget?” Wasserman said.
A new deputy, Kevin Smith, has been hired from Literacy New York to help the new configuration move forward, Gumson said. The name change is effective immediately.
This article was published in the March 2011 issue of Able News.
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