HAR §17-401.1-23. 348-3, 348-6; 29 U

S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50) §17-401.1-24 Interpreter services and tactile interpreting services. (a) The division shall provide interpreter services for applicants and eligible individuals who are deaf and tactile interpreting services for applicants and eligible individuals who are deaf-blind when necessary to assure the provision of efficient and meaningful VR services throughout the VR process. (1) Interpreter services consists of sign language and oral interpreter services to facilitate communication between individuals who are deaf and individuals who can hear. (A) Individuals who have low vision or a restricted visual field may continue to use some preferred form of sign language with minor modifications. Appropriate use of lighting and distance may enable the staff to work directly with the individual. (B) Individuals who have a narrow visual field may hold onto a speaker’s wrists in order to follow what is being signed. One modification of this system is for the individual to place the individual’s hands on either side of the visual field so the speaker can sign within the field. (C) Fingerspelling can be read visually, by tracking, or tactually. The individual aids the speaker in positioning the hand so that both are comfortable and comprehension is optimal. (2) Tactile interpreting services consists of hand-over-hand sign language using any preferred sign system. The individual who is deaf-blind places the individual’s hands over the speaker’s hand or hands. The speaker uses the same handshapes and 96 §17-401.1-25 placement as in visual signing, which are read tactually by the individual who is deaf-blind. (b) The division shall obtain interpreter or tactile interpreting services from qualified interpreters. The most skilled interpreter available shall be used based on American sign language/English oral interpreter certification standards. (c) Interpreter or tactile interpreting services are subject to the use of comparable services and benefits provisions of section 17-401.1-13, but are exempt from the use of personal resources (financial needs test) provisions of section 17-401.1-14. [Eff AUG 13 2007] (Auth: HRS §§347-4, 348-3, 348-6; 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50) (Imp: HRS §§347-4, 348-3, 348-6; 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50) §17-401.1-25 Reader, rehabilitation teaching, and orientation and mobility services. (a) Reader, rehabilitation teaching, and orientation and mobility services shall be included as VR services in an assessment for determining eligibility for VR services of applicants who are blind, or in an IPE when necessary for the vocational rehabilitation of eligible individuals who are blind. (1) “Reader services” means any person’s oral reading to an individual who is blind, of ink print material which is not available through any of the accepted special non- visual methods of reading used by individuals who are blind (braille, talking book, tape recording). Reader services may also be the oral reading of material which are available in those forms, when an individual who is blind or visually impaired has not yet acquired sufficient skill in using them to meet an immediate need in the rehabilitation process which, if unfulfilled at the stage of rehabilitation, would impede the person’s rehabilitation process, or the 97 §17-401.1-25 person’s attainment of or continuation in employment. (2) “Rehabilitation teaching services” include the teaching of techniques fundamental to developing personal independence by mastering common skills of daily living without eyesight or with impaired eyesight. They encompass specific and identifiable teaching methods to assist individuals who are blind and visually impaired in personal independence. (3) “Orientation and mobility services” refers to the teaching of methods of independent travel without sight or with partial sight. “Mobility” in this context is the act of moving, while “orientation” is awareness of pertinent factors in the environment which enable the person with partial or total impairment of sight to react, move, and travel in a safe, appropriate and purposeful manner. (b) Reader, rehabilitation teaching and orientation and mobility services shall be provided by trained personnel, as necessary to assist individuals who are blind and visually impaired in developing use of their remaining senses, especially hearing and touch, and an awareness of obstacles to be overcome, including the initial effect blindness can have on the individual’s morale. In each instance, the purpose for the services shall be explained to the applicant or eligible individual who is blind. Such services shall be provided consistent with the needs of the individual and, as appropriate with the individual’s informed choice in accordance with section 17-401.1- 12. (1) Reader services shall be provided in accordance with the following: (A) When substantial amounts of reading are necessary for individuals who are blind during the assessment to determine eligibility and priority for services, 98 §17-401.1-25 or when entering employment, both for an individual working for an employer or an individual who is self-employed, especially in the beginning of employment. (B) Payment for reader services for an individual who is employed and before case closure is limited to an initial period of four months and shall not exceed one year. (2) Rehabilitation teaching services may include the following: (A) Instruction in skills related to personal management including but not limited to grooming, table etiquette, and personal hygiene. (B) Instruction in communication skills, including braille, tape recording, typing, and manual writing. (C) Instruction in home management including childcare and supervision, techniques of home maintenance, budgeting, cooking, cleaning, and dietary and menu planning. (D) Limited instruction in travel techniques. (E) Participation in group activities in the community with sighted as well as blind and visually impaired persons. (3) Orientation and mobility services shall be provided to enable an individual who is blind or visually impaired to move about at an optimum level of independence in immediate personal surroundings and ranges as far as required by the individual’s activities and interests. Services may include but are not limited to: (A) Sensory development; (B) Use of a sighted guide; (C) Use of hands, arms, and other body movements in a protective way; 99 §17-401.1-25 (D) Grip and use of a cane; (E) Principles of indoor and outdoor orientation to the environment, including how to obtain and use reference data through the remaining senses; (F) Use of common modes of transportation; (G) Travel in residential and business areas; (H) Travel with electronic mobility aids; (I) Travel with guide dog; and (J) Travel with low vision aids. (c) Reader, rehabilitation teaching, and orientation and mobility services are subject to the use of comparable services and benefits provisions of section 17-401.1-13, but are exempt from the use of personal resources (financial needs test) provisions of section 17-401.1-14. [Eff AUG 13 2007 ] (Auth: HRS §§347-4, 348-3, 348-6: 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50) (Imp: HRS §§347-4, 348-3, 348-6; 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50) §17-401.1-26 Occupational licenses, tools, equipment, and initial stocks and supplies. (a) The division may provide an applicant in a trial work experience or extended evaluation, or an individual determined eligible for VR services with an occupational license, tools, equipment, initial stocks, and supplies for employment or self- employment, consistent with the individual’s needs and, as appropriate, the individual’s informed choice in accordance with section 17-401.1-12, when necessary to determine the applicant’s eligibility for VR services or when necessary for the eligible individual to achieve an employment outcome. (1) “Occupational licenses” are any license, permit or other written authority required by a state, city, or other government unit to be obtained in order to enter an occupation or a small business such as a 100 §17-401.1-26 chauffeur license, food service license, realtor license, or business license. (2) “Tools” shall be limited to those types needed or required by the VR applicant or eligible individual during training or for entry into employment and customarily required for the job and normally possessed by workers in the same or similar trade or profession. Special tools may be provided in cases where they are required by the individual to perform normal tasks because of the individual’s disability or functional limitations. (3) “Equipment” refers to pieces of occupational fixtures normally found in places of business for use in carrying out the requirements of the particular business and which are needed to provide for an efficient operation. (A) Generally, equipment includes apparatus, machinery, and appliances that are usually of a stationary nature during the time of use. (B) Equipment which have no connection with the actual functions of a business, trade, or profession but are required because of the nature of the individual’s disability may be provided. (C) “Shelter” to house a self-employment business venture is included as equipment if customarily furnished by an operator of a like undertaking, occupying premises under a short-term lease. Shelters which are normally portable, easily dismantled, moved, and reassembled with a minimum loss of value, are differentiated from buildings, which are excluded as rehabilitation service to individuals based on permanency of structure. 101 §17-401.1-26 (D) Automobiles, trucks, vans and other like vehicles shall not be considered as equipment. (4) “Initial stocks and supplies” may be provided only to individuals entering self- employment. (A) “Initial stock” includes the initial inventory of merchandise or goods necessary for direct resale or for further preparation for direct resale either on a wholesale or retail basis. (i) The amount of such goods to be provided as an initial stock shall be determined by the amount considered necessary to enable the individual to initially open business. When a turnover of the primary operation stock occurs, the individual should have adequate income to replenish the depleted stock for the first time in addition to having the necessary income to meet daily living needs. (ii) The initial purchase of livestock necessary for the establishment of a base stock of animals or the purchase of initial supplies of seed, fertilizer, fuel, and other supplies for a farming or agricultural self-employment venture may be provided as a rehabilitation service. (B) “Supplies” are expendable items necessary to enable the individual to carry out the day-to-day operations of the self-employment business and are consumed on the premises such as: (i) Stationery, pencils, pens, stamps, and other office supplies for a business office; 102 §17-401.1-27 (ii) Soap, shampoo, hair tonic, and other barber supplies for a barber shop; and (iii) Wrapping paper, string, stationery, and other supplies for a retail store. (b) Occupational licenses, tools, equipment, and initial stocks and supplies are subject to the use of comparable services and benefits provisions of section 17-401.1-13 and the use of personal resources (financial needs test) provisions of section 17-401.1- 14. (c) The division shall retain title to all tools, equipment, shelters, initial stock and supplies, including livestock provided to an applicant or eligible individual, until the individual with a disability is vocationally rehabilitated and on condition that tools, equipment, shelters, and initial supplies, including livestock, are still needed or required for continued employment. An inventory of items provided shall be maintained in the division’s record of services for the individual. (d) Disposition of items on inventory shall be clearly indicated in the division’s record of services for the individual, including justification for action taken, and other details to account for its whereabouts and other status of possession. [Eff AUG 13 2007 ] (Auth: HRS §§347-4, 348-3, 348-6; 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. 361.50) (Imp: HRS §§347- 4, 348-3, 348-6; 29 U.S.C. §§709, 723; 34 C.F.R. §361.50)