Aren there already agencies that provide rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities? Why should they be HIV-specific?
PLWHA and their advocates have only recently begun to engage vocational rehabilitation (VR) service systems. These systems are in the earliest stages of identifying and addressing our specific needs. Among other things, there are fundamental issues of cultural competence that still need to be addressed, and decades of stigma yet to be unlearned. VR service providers frequently have a limited understanding of the ways HIV disease impacts vocational development and the trajectory of rehabilitation. Moreover, VR systems are not designed to well serve individuals with any sort of episodic disabilities, having been designed originally to support the needs of injured combat veterans.
