N.Y. Education Law § 1002: Definitions

§ 1002. Definitions. As used in this article:

1. "Handicapped person" means any person who in the judgment of the

department is under a physical or mental disability which constitutes a

substantial handicap to employment but which is of such a nature that

vocational rehabilitation services may reasonably be expected to render

him fit to engage in gainful employment, and also any person under a

physical or mental disability which constitutes a substantial handicap

to employment and for whom vocational rehabilitation services are

necessary to ascertain his rehabilitation potential.

2. "Person who is under a physical or mental disability" means an

individual who has a physical or mental condition which in the judgment

of the department limits, contributes to limiting, or, if not corrected,

will result in limiting his activities or functioning.

3. "Substantial handicap to employment" means that a physical or

mental disability (in the light of attendant medical, psychological,

vocational, educational, cultural, social or environmental factors)

impedes an individual's occupational performance, by preventing his

obtaining, retaining, or preparing for a gainful occupation consistent

with his capacities and abilities.

4. "Gainful occupation" includes any employment for which a

compensation is paid either in goods and/or in services; practice of a

profession; self-employment; homemaking, farm or family work (including

work for which payment is in kind rather than in cash); sheltered

employment; and home industries or other gainful homebound work.

5. "Vocational rehabilitation services" means:

a. Any goods and services necessary to render a handicapped person fit

to engage in a gainful occupation and includes:

(1.) Evaluation, including diagnostic and related services;

(2.) Counseling and Guidance;

(3.) Training;

(4.) Placement;

(5.) Reader service where necessary for individuals who are visually

handicapped and interpreter services in the case of individuals who are

deaf;

(6.) Attendants and amanuenses where required;

(7.) Occupational and business licenses;

(8.) Books, training supplies and fees;

(9.) Transportation;

(10.) Physical restoration services;

(11.) Maintenance payments to cover the handicapped person's expenses

essential to achievement of his vocational rehabilitation objective;

(12.) Tools, equipment, initial stocks and supplies;

(13.) Training allowances which may be paid to individuals receiving

training and related services in public and other non-profit workshops

and rehabilitation facilities to the extent that funds may be made

available for this purpose;

(14.) Other goods and services, not enumerated in this subdivision,

necessary to render a handicapped person fit to engage in a gainful

occupation.

b. The establishment of public and other nonprofit rehabilitation

facilities for handicapped persons; the establishment of public and

other nonprofit workshops for the severely handicapped; and the staffing

of public and other nonprofit workshops for the severely handicapped so

that workshops may be established, extended, improved or continued.

6. "Physical restoration services" mean those medical and medically

related services which are necessary to correct or substantially modify

within a reasonable period of time a physical or mental condition which

is stable or slowly progressive and which constitutes a substantial

handicap to employment, and includes (but is not limited to):

a. corrective surgery or therapeutic treatment;

b. necessary hospitalization in connection with surgery or treatment

specified in (a);

c. prosthetic devices essential to obtaining or retaining employment;

and

d. other necessary medical or medically related services.

7. "Rehabilitation facility" means a facility, operated for the

principal purpose of assisting in the rehabilitation of handicapped

persons and

a. provides one or more than one of the following types of services:

1. prevocational or conditioning therapy;

2. adjustment training;

3. testing, fitting or training in the use of prosthetic devices;

4. physical or occupational therapy;

5. evaluation, treatment or control of special disabilities; or

b. through which is provided an integrated program of medical,

psychological, social and vocational evaluation and services under

appropriate professional supervision, provided that the major portion of

such evaluation and services is furnished within the facility, and that

all medical and related health services are prescribed by and are under

the supervision of persons licensed to practice medicine in the state.

8. "Workshop" means a place where any manufacture or handiwork is

carried on and which is operated for the principle purpose of providing

gainful employment to severely handicapped persons (a) as an interim

step in the rehabilitation process for those who cannot be absorbed in

the competitive labor market; or (b) during such time as employment

opportunities for them in the competitive labor market do not exist.

9. "Establishment of a workshop" or "rehabilitation facility" means:

a. In the case of a workshop, the expansion, remodeling, or alteration

of existing buildings, necessary to adapt such buildings to workshop

purposes or to increase the employment opportunities in workshops, and

the acquisition of initial equipment necessary for new workshops or to

increase the employment opportunities in workshops; and

b. In the case of a rehabilitation facility, the expansion,

remodeling, or alteration of existing buildings, and initial equipment

of such buildings, necessary to adapt such buildings to rehabilitation

facility purposes or to increase their effectiveness for such purposes

and initial staffing thereof for a period not exceeding one year.

10. With respect to the construction of workshops and rehabilitation

facilities, the following definitions shall apply:

a. "Construction" includes construction of new buildings, acquisition

of existing buildings, and expansion, remodeling, alteration, and

renovation of existing buildings, and initial equipment of such new,

newly acquired, expanded, remodeled, altered or renovated buildings;

b. The "cost" of construction may include the cost of architects' fees

and acquisition of land in connection with construction, but does not

include the cost of offsite improvements.

c. A "project for construction of a workshop" may include provisions

for residential accommodations to be used by and in conjunction with the

rehabilitation of categories of handicapped individuals as may be

hereafter designated.

11. "Supported employment" means paid competitive work performed by

individuals with severe disabilities who require intensive support

services to obtain such employment and extended support to sustain such

employment, and which is performed in an integrated setting which

provides regular interactions with individuals who do not have

disabilities, other than paid caregivers.

12. "Supported employment services" means support services needed by

individuals with severe disabilities to obtain and sustain supported

employment. Such term shall also include transitional employment

services for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, as

defined by the commissioner in consultation with the commissioner of the

office of mental health.

13. "Paid competitive work", as used in the definition of supported

employment pursuant to subdivision eleven of this section means work

that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis, with a minimum

expectation of averaging at least twenty hours per week as an employment

goal, except that such requirement may be waived for good cause by the

commissioner, and for which an individual is compensated in accordance

with the federal fair labor standards act and the state department of

labor wage and hour regulations.

14. "Individuals with severe disabilities" means persons for whom

competitive employment has either not traditionally occurred or has been

interrupted or intermittent as a result of having a permanent and

substantially disabling physical, sensory, or mental condition.