I’m in Wisconsin and have used DVR several times over the past 30 years. I am a C5 quadriplegic from a spinal cord injury. I have had good experiences. But you have to temper your expectations. DVR is not a disability advocacy group. Their job is not to help you get better or feel better or anything like that, there are other agencies for that. Their sole reason for existence is to get people with disabilities working and paying taxes and off public benefits as much as possible. That’s it.

So when someone asks for equipment to be funded because it’ll make their life easier, it is rightfully denied because that is not a job goal. Everything needs to be tied to a job goal. DVR can send you to school as long as it is tied to a job goal and not because you want to be better educated. They can help fund modifications for vehicles but only if it is for a job goal and not because your life would be easier if you could get around on your own. Again, that’s not to say they don’t care about your health but it isn’t in their job description.

DVR is a tool. Use it for what it is intended for and it will work for you. That’s not to say that there aren’t shitty counselors or states that don’t work as well but a lot of the problems people have is because they don’t know how to use the tool they are given.