Michigan Rehabilitation Services: the employment resource nobody mentions
Michigan Rehabilitation Services is federally mandated to provide free employment services to people with disabilities, autism included, starting years before graduation. Most families never hear the name until it’s almost too late to use it well.
Find your local office by county on the MRS website. The call itself costs nothing and starts a clock that, if your family member is still in school, should ideally have started at 14, not senior year.
Pre-Employment Transition Services
Job exploration counseling, work-based learning, workplace readiness training, and self-advocacy instruction for students 14 to 21.
Job coaching and supported employment
Job search support, on-the-job training, employer communication, and long-term follow-along once employed.
Benefits counseling
Fear of losing SSI or Medicaid stops more families from pursuing employment than any actual rule does. Benefits counseling explains work incentives like 1619(b) before that fear derails the plan.
Named programs worth knowing
Project SEARCH, Michigan Career and Technical Institute, Ticket to Work, and customized employment all operate under or alongside MRS.
No cost to the family
MRS is federally mandated vocational rehabilitation. Families are not billed for eligible services.
Assistive technology
MRS can fund devices and assessments specifically tied to an employment goal, not just general daily living needs.
MRS programs worth knowing by name
Transition services for students 14-21 still in school
Internship-based transition training in real business settings
Michigan Career and Technical Institute residential training
Connects to employment networks while protecting SSI/Medicaid
Jobs developed around an individual’s specific strengths
Vincent’s family hadn’t heard of MRS until a school transition coordinator mentioned it in his final semester, years later than ideal. A VR counselor initially suggested Vincent “wasn’t quite ready” for services. His mother asked directly what specific criteria he failed to meet and requested it in writing. The eligibility determination was reversed within two weeks.
When you’re ready to access MRS, here is the process in order
Access ladder
- 1Find your local MRS office by county online.
- 2Complete the application with disability documentation.
- 3Attend intake for eligibility determination.
- 4Develop an Individualized Plan for Employment with your VR counselor.
- 5Coordinate MRS with school transition services and CMH.
- 6Request benefits counseling before the first paycheck arrives.
Have ready
- Disability documentation for the application
- School IEP or transition plan records
- A specific employment goal to discuss at intake
- Questions about Pre-ETS, Project SEARCH, and Ticket to Work
- A written eligibility determination if services are denied
MRS is free, federally mandated, and years from being fully used by most families who qualify for it. The application is the hardest part, and it’s genuinely not that hard.
Vincent’s family had never heard of Michigan Rehabilitation Services until a school transition coordinator mentioned it during his final semester, years later than would have been ideal. A VR counselor’s first impression was that Vincent “wasn’t quite ready” for services. His mother asked, directly and calmly, what specific eligibility criterion he had failed to meet, and asked for that determination in writing. The reversal came within two weeks. Vincent is now two years into a customized employment placement that Pre-Employment Transition Services could have started building years earlier, had anyone told the family MRS existed.
The free service most families never hear named
Michigan Rehabilitation Services is the state’s vocational rehabilitation agency, federally mandated to provide employment-related services to individuals with disabilities, autism included, at no cost to the family. Despite that mandate, MRS remains one of the most underused resources available to autistic adults and their families in Michigan, largely because nobody in the typical service pipeline, whether school, CMH, or a pediatrician’s office, consistently mentions it exists.
What MRS actually provides, by name
For students age 14 to 21 still enrolled in school, Pre-Employment Transition Services include job exploration counseling, work-based learning experiences, counseling on post-secondary education options, workplace readiness training, and instruction in self-advocacy. For adults, job coaching and supported employment services help with job search, on-the-job training, communication with employers, and long-term follow-along support after placement. Benefits counseling explains exactly how work income affects SSI and Medicaid, including work incentives like 1619(b) that let many people keep Medicaid coverage well past the point their earnings would otherwise disqualify them. Assistive technology assessment and funding covers devices tied specifically to an employment goal. And funding for training or education costs is available when necessary to reach that goal.
The application, step by step
Contact your local MRS office, found by county on the MRS website. Complete the application and provide disability documentation. Attend an intake appointment for eligibility determination. Work with your assigned VR counselor to develop an Individualized Plan for Employment specifying a concrete employment goal and the services needed to reach it. Then receive services as outlined in that plan.
Coordinating MRS with everything else your family already has
MRS can operate alongside CMH services with a clear division of labor: MRS focuses specifically on employment, while CMH continues to provide community living supports. School transition services should actively connect to MRS during a student’s final years in school, ideally well before senior year. And MRS benefits counseling is often the single most useful conversation a family can have before a first job starts, specifically to navigate SSI and Medicaid work disincentive fears before they quietly talk a family out of pursuing employment altogether.
The programs worth knowing by name
Project SEARCH offers an internship-based transition program set inside real business environments. Michigan Career and Technical Institute provides residential vocational training programs. Ticket to Work connects participants to employment networks while protecting SSI and Medicaid coverage during the transition into work. Customized employment develops a job specifically shaped around an individual’s strengths, rather than asking someone to fit an existing job description.
When a counselor says “not appropriate”
If an MRS counselor suggests your family member isn’t a good fit for services, ask directly and calmly what specific eligibility criterion wasn’t met, and request that answer in writing. A vague impression is not the same as a documented eligibility determination, and families are entitled to see the actual reasoning, not just the conclusion.
This week, if your family member is 14 or older and still in school. Call your county’s MRS office and ask specifically about Pre-Employment Transition Services.
This week, if your family member is already out of school. Call anyway. Adult job coaching and supported employment services remain available regardless of age.
MRS was never a secret. It was just never mentioned loudly enough by the people families trust to mention things like this.
Jim Palasty is the founder of OASIS for Autism and a single father of an adult autistic daughter in Michigan.