401.59

Construction of rehabilitation facilities.

401.136

Continuation grants for innovation projects; reports.

401.137 Project amendments. 401.138

Methods of computing and making payments.

AUTHORITY: The provisions of this Part 401 issued under secs. 205, 1102, 7, 222, 49 Stat. 624, 647, 68 Stat. 658, 79 Stat. 408; 42 U.S.C. 405, 1302, 29 U.S.C. 37, 42 U.S.C. 422. Interpret and apply secs. 1-12, 41 Stat. 735, as amended; 29 U.S.C. 31-42.

SOURCE: The provisions of this Part 401 appear at 34 F.R. 16802, Oct. 17, 1969, unless otherwise noted.

(d) "Construction of a rehabilitation facility" means (1) the construction of new buildings, the acquisition of existing buildings, or the expansion of existing buildings, which are to be utilized for rehabilitation facility purposes; (2) the acquisition of initial equipment of such new, newly acquired, or newly expanded buildings; or (3) the initial staffing of such a rehabilitation facility for a period not to exceed 4 years and 3 months.

(e) "Eligible" or "eligibility," when used in relation to an individual's qualification for vocational rehabilitation services, refers to a certification that (1) a physical or mental disability is present; (2) a substantial handicap to employment exists; and (3) vocational rehabilitation services may reasonably be expected to render the individual fit to engage in a gainful occupation.

(f) "Establishment of a rehabilitation facility" means (1) the expansion, remodeling, or alteration of existing buildings, necessary to adapt or to increase the effectiveness of such buildings for rehabilitation facility purposes; (2) the acquisition of initial equipment for such purposes; or (3) the initial staffing of a rehabilitation facility, for a period not to exceed 4 years and 3 months.

(g) "Family members" or "members of the family" means any relative by blood or marriage of a handicapped individual and other individuals living in the same household with whom the handicapped individual has a close interpersonal relationship.

(h) "Gainful occupation" includes employment in the competitive labor market; practice of a profession; selfemployment; 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.

(i) (1) “Handicapped individual" means any individual who has a physical or mental disability and a substantial handicap to employment, which is of such a nature that vocational rehabilitation services (paragraph (z)(1) of this section) may reasonably be expected to render him fit to engage in a gainful occupation, including a gainful occupation which is more consistent with his capacities and abilities.

(2) "Handicapped individual" also means any individual who has a physical or mental disability and a substantial handicap to employment for whom voca

tional rehabilitation services (paragraph (z) (2) of this section) are necessary for the purpose of extended evaluation to determine rehabilitation potential.

(j) "Local rehabilitation agency" means the public agency of a political subdivision of a State which has sole responsibility for administering the vocational rehabilitation program in the locality, under the supervision of the State agency.

(k) "Maintenance" means payments to cover the handicapped individual's basic living expenses, such as food, shelter, clothing, health maintenance, and other subsistence expenses essential to determination of the individual's rehabilitation potential or to achievement of his vocational rehabilitation objective.

(1) "Management services and supervision" for small business enterprises includes inspection, quality control, consultation, accounting, regulating, inservice training, and other related services provided on a systematic basis to support and improve small business enterprises operated by blind or other severely handicapped persons under a State agency's small business enterprise program. "Management services and supervision" does not include those services or costs which pertain to the operation of the individual business enterprise, such as employment of substitute workers, rent, advertising and other operating costs.

(m) "Nonprofit," when used with respect to a rehabilitation facility means a rehabilitation facility which is owned and operated by a corporation or association, no part of the net earnings of which inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, and the income of which is exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

(n) "Occupational license" means any license, permit, or other written authority required by a State, city, or other governmental unit to be obtained in order to enter an occupation.

(0) "Physical or mental disability" means a physical or mental condition which materially limits, contributes to limiting or, if not corrected, will probably result in limiting an individual's activities or functioning. It includes behavioral disorders characterized by a pattern of deviant social behavior or impaired ability to carry out normal relationships with family and community

which may result from vocational, educational, cultural, social, environmental, or other factors.

(p) "Physical restoration services" means those 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 includes: (1) Medical or surgical treatment by general practitioners or medical specialists; (2) psychiatric treatment; (3) dentistry; (4) nursing sevices; (5) hospitalization (either inpatient or outpatient care) and clinic services; (6) convalescent, nursing or rest home care; (7) drugs and supplies; (8) prosthetic devices and orthotic devices essential to obtaining or retaining employment; (9) eye glasses and visual services, as prescribed by a physician skilled in the diseases of the eye or by an optometrist; (10) physical therapy; (11) occupational therapy; (12) speech or hearing therapy; (13) psychological services; (14) treatment of medical complications and emergencies, either acute or chronic, which are associated with or arise out of the provision of physical restoration services, or are inherent in the condition under treatment; and (15) other medical or medically related rehabilitation services. The provision that the condition is stable or slowly progressive does not apply when physical restoration services are provided under extended evaluation in order to determine the rehabilitation potential.

(q) "Regional Commissioner" means the Regional Commissioner of the Social and Rehabilitation Service.

(r) "Rehabilitation facility" means a facility which is operated for the primary purpose of providing vocational rehabilitation services to or gainful employment for handicapped individuals, or for providing evaluation and work adjustment services for disadvantaged individuals under Part 402 of this chapter, and which provides singly or in combination one or more of the following services for handicapped individuals: (1) Comprehensive rehabilitation services which include, under one management, medical, psychological, social, and vocational services; (2) testing, fitting, or training in the use of prosthetic and orthotic devices; (3) prevocational conditioning or recreational therapy; (4) physical and occupational therapy; (5) speech and hearing therapy; (6) psychological and social services; (7) evaluation; (8) personal

and work adjustment; (9) vocational training (in combination with other rehabilitation services); (10) evaluation or control of special disabilities; and (11) transitional or long-term employment for the severely handicapped who cannot be readily absorbed in the competitive labor market: Provided, That all medical and related health services must be prescribed by, or under the formal supervision of, persons licensed to practice medicine or surgery in the State.

(s) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

(t) "Small business enterprise" means a small business operated by blind or other severely handicapped persons under the management and supervision of the State agency or its nominee. Such businesses include only those selling, manufacturing, processing, servicing, agricultural, and other activities which are suitable and practical for the most effective utilization of the skills and aptitutes of blind or other severely handicapped persons and provide substantial gainful employment or self-employment commensurate with the time devoted by the operator or operators to the business, the cost of establishing the business and other factors of an economic nature.

(u) "State" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

(v) "State agency" or "State vocational rehabilitation agency" means the sole State agency designated to administer (or supervise local administration of) the State plan for vocational rehabilitation services. The term includes the State agency for the blind, if designated as the sole State agency with respect to that part of the plan relating to the vocational rehabilitation of the blind.

(w) "State plan" means the State plan for vocational rehabilitation services.

(x) "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 occupation performance, by preventing his obtaining, retaining, or preparing for a gainful occupation consistent with his capacities and abilities.

(y) "Visual services" means visual training, and the examination and services necessary for the prescription and provision of eyeglasses, contact lenses,