47.01 Definitions. In this chapter:

(1) “Blind" means central visual acuity that does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses or a visual field that subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees.

(1m) “Department" means the department of workforce development.

(2) “Employability" means that the provision of vocational rehabilitation services is likely to enable an individual to obtain or retain employment consistent with his or her capacities and abilities in the competitive labor market, the practice of a profession, self-employment, homemaking, farm or family work, sheltered employment, home-based employment or other gainful work.

(3) “Person with a disability" means any person who has a physical or mental disability that constitutes or results in a substantial barrier to employment and who can reasonably be expected to benefit in terms of employability from the provision of vocational rehabilitation services.

(3g) “Person with a severe disability" means any person with a disability who has a severe disability that seriously limits one or more functional capacities, including mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction, work tolerance, or work skills, in terms of employability, whose vocational rehabilitation can be expected to require multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time and who has one or more physical or mental disabilities determined on the basis of an evaluation of rehabilitation potential to cause comparable substantial functional limitation.

(3m) “Personal assistance services" has the meaning given in 29 USC 706 (11).

(5) “Visually impaired" means a loss of vision that can reasonably be expected to lead to blindness or a loss of vision that represents a barrier to employment or other major life activities.

(6) “Vocational rehabilitation" means assisting a person with a disability to become capable of competing in the labor market, practicing a profession, being self-employed, raising a family and making a home, participating in sheltered employment or other gainful work.

History: 1983 a. 435; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 373; 1995 a. 27 ss. 2408, 9130 (4); 1997 a. 3, 112.