I am sharing my personal story with you today because I believe it's time for a change in our system. Before my major health crisis, the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) in California was already a source of frustration and inefficiency in my life. As someone living with ADHD, I was already familiar with them, as I had sought their assistance in good faith, only to encounter bafflingly inadequate services. You can imagine my dismay and frustration when, after experiencing a major stroke, my interactions with the DOR became even less fruitful.

It is deeply concerning that an institution designed to aid individuals with disabilities, such as myself, is so riddled with inefficiencies and lacks true accountability. The DOR's shortcomings in effectively supporting its clients not only add unnecessary stress to those who are already facing significant challenges but also represent a substantial misuse of taxpayer dollars.

According to the California Department of Finance's most recent data, the DOR's budget increased by 5% last year, yet the quality of service has seen little to no improvement. This trend is unacceptable. Taxpayer dollars should be directed towards implementing meaningful and effective programs that truly assist those in need, not funneled into a system that fails to deliver.

We propose common-sense reforms to hold the DOR accountable for its actions and ensure it fulfills its purpose to serve the disabled community effectively. These reforms should include: an independent oversight committee to evaluate the DOR's performance, regular audits to ensure fiscal responsibility, and the development of clear benchmarks for service delivery that prioritize the needs of clients.

Our demand for change is not just about improving a single agency but about advocating for a fairer, more compassionate system that genuinely supports individuals with disabilities. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to create a Department of Rehabilitation that truly rehabilitates and empowers its clients.

This is the second of two petitions regarding services to handicapped people that are horrifically, incompetently given.

1. The DOR is utterly unaccountable to any California body, as it has been unreformed for many years. The DOR proudly states that it is not a jobs agency, but they do not seem to have many contractors/job developers with whom they work that can help clients find jobs. No serious pushes for reform are evident through searches on the internet.
2. The DOR consistently demonstrates that it cannot do simple record keeping, by repeatedly asking when clients are graduating from college when they graduated years ago, losing PDF resumes, and not retaining information derived from interviews with their clients in a matter, DOR counselors can access and pass on to colleagues in the outside agencies.
3. DOR administrators offer other services once counselors get to know the client, such as providing electronics to do a job the client has, but clients must play an unpleasant game of catch to get the DOR to fulfill the offer.
4. At several junctures, the DOR has posted jobs on its website that do not exist.
5. Counselors have untenable case loads, and are often completely unfamiliar with the most basic points of clients’ resumes when asked.
6. For those doubting these claims, simply look at yelp! reviews of the DOR: almost across the board, they are negative for these and other reasons: San Francisco Yelp Reviews (see other cities - more of the same)
7. We demand very simple things: that each counselor must have a record available for new and existing clients of their successes in helping make job placements with contractors, in black-and-white numbers. The department must go from opaque to transparent.
8. Caseloads must be reduced to reasonable amounts, and counselors must also have a record of their interactions with a client that is web-available for the client: phone calls, subjects discussed, positions applied for, etc.
9. Allocations for funding must be made such that DOR must have access to LinkedIn, one of the largest databases of jobs available in the world, to which they have no access whatsoever, which is odd that they are supposed to help with client job searches.

Help us demand the reform we urgently need. Please sign this petition to push for accountability and positive change within the Department of Rehabilitation of California.

As the governor wraps up his final term, we offer below common sense reforms to aid the people who need the services of the oddly named Department of Rehabilitation, an agency that reportedly serves to help handicap people find employment, or if employed, to keep their employment.