Webcast Details

There is an ever-expanding demand from the vocational rehabilitation system to communicate, through written reports, the strengths, capacities, abilities and preferences of the people we serve. Sounds simple. But the reality is, writing can be a bit of a challenge for most people. Even more so, how can we capture and document the focus person using a narrative approach?  What if you were able to write a vocational profile that actually told the story about the person you are supporting, in a way that you and others could visualize that person working? This webcast provides basic ideas to improve writing skills, decrease stereotypes, and use words to create pictures, with the goal that the reader will gain a better understanding of the job seeker. 

Doug Crandell is a subject matter expert in Customized Employment with the Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program at the US DOL Office of Disability Employment Policy. His area of expertise is using evidence-based supported employment practices to help support people with complex barriers to work. He works at the Institute on Human Development and Disability at the University of Georgia and is a Senior Consultant for Griffin-Hammis Associates. He shares many experiences with training and support staff in his recent story “Activities of Daily Living”.  He recently received a Pushcart Prize for his essay “Winter Wheat” published in the January 2015 issue of The Sun.

This webcast was co-produced by Virginia Commonwealth University's DRRP on Customized Employment and the RRTC on Employment of People with Physical Disabilities.  The VCU-DRRP is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number #90DP0085). The VCU-RRTC is also funded by NIDILRR (grant number #90RT503502). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, this content does not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.