TRC Today, Volume 22, Number 5, October 1999 Page: Inside Front Cover
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III: .,p
I M ,An Employee Newsletter for Texas Rehabilitat
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Iion Commission
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TRC Serves
Significant
Disabilities
n Oct. 1, TRC will enhance initiatives
to ensure that the percentage of
individuals with significant disabilities
on vocational rehabilitation caseloads is 75
percent.
Outreach efforts in the communities are
one of the keys to carrying out this goal. The
Sunset staff recommendations identified
outreach to Texans with significant
disabilities as an important initiative in this
last legislative session, and TRC fully agreed
with the recommendation.
"To assure we meet our goals, we are
aggressively reaching out to disability
organizations, other health and human service
agencies, medical groups, physical and
cognitive therapists, churches and ministers,
to name a few," says Tony Lawrence, Region
III regional director. "There are some
individuals out there that don't know what
resources are available, and we hope our
outreach efforts will better educate the
community on our services."
Effective documentation will also be
necessary to meet this new requirement.
Taking a close look at all the medical
documentation is crucial to correct disability
coding.
Also, taking a look at secondary
disabilities can affect the determination of
significance. For instance, a client may come
in seeking help for a back injury. But medical
documentation may show a history of cardiac
problems that also affects ability to work.
Taken together, these may be considered
significant, depending on the client and
-situation. "Counselors must look at all the
disability-related information," says
Lawrence. "What we have seen is that some
counselors may, at times, ignore secondary
disabilities that may be an impediment to
employment."
"Looking at medical documentation in
such a way as to see the whole picture is
central to effective rehabilitation," says Mary
Wolfe, deputy commissioner for Field
Operations/External Affairs. "And building
effective outreach in the community is crucial
to reaching those with significant disabilities
who greatly need our services to be
independent."
ditor's Note: Our original story on Tabin ran
,i the March 1997 issue of TRC Today. Refdi
'rnd se GP ,ful mo 4;;r7t l v 111 hI r i e n i .snI n e Iq'Finding Success
00
1', &
T wo years ago we told you about Tobin
Boenig, a charming young man with a
grin as big as Texas, who became
quadriplegic after a swimming accident at his
college graduation party. As president of the
student body at Texas A&M University, Tobin
had a very promising future. Tobin dealt with
his injury by setting some pretty lofty goals;
"k V~ii.e., although he was paralyzed from his neck
down, he set a goal to walk out of the Warm
II Springs Rehab Hospital. He did (with
assistance), but not in the timeframe he first
established.
Tobin didn't let that time factor stop him
from setting new goals. He planned to start
working for IBM in Dallas on June 10, 1996,
after his graduation. After the accident, he
adjusted that goal a little and planned to
"walk into his new job" in Dallas in June
Tobin Boenig is still very 1997 - one year later.
charming and has that Tobin was continuing his physical therapy
Texas-sizedsmwhen we last reported to you, so we decided
Althoughmanyto look him up and see how he was progressing toward
goals meeting his goals. We found him back at Texas A&M.
"I can't even imagine being back where I was three
n Tobin has been able years ago," recalled Tobin, "laying in that bed in the
hospital, getting aggravated when a fly lit on my nose and I
.ce couldn't do anything about it."
"I decided that going to Dallas and working for IBM
one step at a time. might be a little unrealistic for my first job," continued
Tobin. "I always did set unrealistic goals and that is the
way I made such progress. But, I've grown a lot, both
emotionally and spiritually, during the last three years. I decided I needed to take things one step
at a time and do something else before I took that next big step."
Tobin made a lot of friends during his college days and he always loved TAMU, so he
decided to make some contacts and see if there was a position available there. In June 1998, he
started working for TAMU in the Office of Disability Services, helping students with disabilities
adjust to the college setting.
"At first, I was worried about my physical condition and not having time to do my physical
therapy everyday because of work," said Tobin.
As it turned out, Tobin's habit of goal setting really paid off here. On his own, he continued
to work on his physical therapy. And, today, he can walk from 300-500 feet with a walker, he
stands on his own, gets in and out of bed, and walks a little without a walker. He says his
walking has increased five times to what it was before he started working.
Within the year Tobin landed another position, licensing manager at TAMU. He now polices
the market to make sure no one is infringing on the TAMU licensing standards for manufactured
products. "I do everything from art work to marketing," smiled Toby. "It is a challenging job
with a lot of variety and I enjoy it."
Tobin recently bought a home, and with a little help from TRC, he now owns a wheelchair
with a hydraulic lift to stand him up and a minivan complete with all the modifications he needs
to drive.
"It's strange looking back on the past three years," recalled Tobin. "God, my family, friends,
TRC, the Aggies, and my home town all played an important role in getting me here today. I
used to think I needed to have a plan for everything in the future, but now I am only concerned
with the immediate future and taking the steps I need to today. I know what I want to do later
on, but, how I get there, when I get there, it's all up to God. So, I'm just taking it one step at a
time."Texas Rehabilitation
Commission
4900 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78751-2399
Vol.22 No.5 October 1999,44 -i
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Texas Rehabilitation Commission. TRC Today, Volume 22, Number 5, October 1999, periodical, October 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1032953/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.