Wow, the rules have really changed in Virginia. Just being disabled no longer means they will serve you. You are categorized according to how many "barriers to employment" you have. For example, a late-deafened person has one barrier to employment: they cannot hear. They are otherwise well-educated, well-qualified, have already proven themselves to be a good worker...so their only barrier is that they cannot hear. A deaf-blind person has two barriers: they cannot hear, and they cannot see. A deaf person with mental handicaps has two (or more) barriers. And so forth. However, the only people who get immediate service are people with THREE or more barriers to employment. Everybody else gets put on a waiting list. IF, and only IF, the state has money, the people at the top of the list get served. However...if you have two barriers, you are placed higher on the list than someone with one barrier. And of course they look at your financial situation too. If you are two barriers and poor, you are on the top of the list. If you are two barriers and rich, you are below that. If you are one barrier and poor, you are below THAT. One barrier and rich, you are at the bottom of the list. I am considered one barrier...and I don't know how they would evaluate me financially. (Full-time students are probably considered poor.)
So we didn't even bother opening a file, because they wouldn't be able to help me until at least Spring 2009, and then ONLY if the money is available AFTER all the other "more severely disabled" people are helped, AND if I qualify financially. These new rules stink.