Promoting “High Quality Employment” for Individuals With Disabilities: Concerns, Challenges, and Competencies of Hawai’i’s Vocational Rehabilitation Providers

This article describes the current status of vocational rehabilitation (VR) services in the State ofHawai’i as seen through the eyes ofVR professionals. We provide a general picture of the State ofHawai’i Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) Program and focus a large part of our discussion on recent legislation, specifically, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and its impact on the provision of services to persons with disabilities. In the final section of this article, we discuss the state ofVR in the private sector and share some of the challenges encountered by VR providers in the State.