Slide 1. Hello everyone! To support accessibility, I'll be reading from a transcript during this presentation. As we move forward, please feel free to have the website, VocRehabTools.com open on another window or device if you're able to do so.
Slide 2. Before we get started, please note that anything I say today reflects my own independent perspective, built from my work as a VR professional and as the founder of VocRehabTools.com. Today's presentation does not represent an official position or endorsement from any other entity, and nothing in today's presentation is legal advice or a replacement for your organization's policies or procedures. Your agency's, state's, and/or employer's official policies and procedures related to the use of Artificial Intelligence automatically supersede anything mentioned in this presentation.
Slide 3. Now, that that's out of the way. Hi, again! My name is Stephanie Nelson and I'm a seasoned Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with over a decade of frontline vocational rehabilitation experience. I've served students, youth, and adults with a wide range of disabilities. I'm also a self-taught website designer and developer.
Slide 4. So, what is VocRehabTools.com? It's a free, public, browser-based platform offering a growing suite of web apps and AI-powered tools designed to support Vocational Rehabilitation professionals, job seekers with disabilities, and their families or support systems.
The problem: Staff working in Vocational Rehabilitation spend large amounts of time on documentation, assessments, and case management that pulls them away from direct time with clients. Most staff have high caseloads, high risk for burnout, and high goals to achieve.
Introducing VocRehabTools.com: Or, as I like to call it, the "Swiss army knife" of VR — it's a scalable resource that provides practical, time-saving solutions not only to VR professionals, but also directly to the job seekers that we serve. In addition to supporting efficiencies and capacity in this line of work, VocRehabTools.com simultaneously provides learning opportunities, quality improvements, and a resource that remains available 24/7 — including during any staff vacancies, waiting lists, or Order of Selection.
Slide 5. VocRehabTools.com is completely free, publicly available to anyone who can access the internet, barrier free with no login or sign-up required, accessible on mobile or desktop devices, and built around the needs of various stakeholders in Vocational Rehabilitation and the disability employment community.
Slide 6. VocRehabTools.com is not connected to any other case management system or database. It does not store user data and no personal information is collected. It does not track individual users beyond standard Google Analytics; and it is not a clinical service or a substitute for formal employment services, evaluation, counseling, or guidance.
Slide 7. VocRehabTools.com is also not perfect, and it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It will not magically solve all Vocational Rehabilitation challenges; and it does have limitations.
For example, even in 2026, not everyone has access to the internet.
Not everyone can use a website easily or independently.
And not everyone wants to use AI (although, soon, VocRehabTools.com will have a few more tools that don't require AI).
Lastly, AI has its own limitations; more of which we'll discuss later in the presentation.
Simply put, VocRehabTools.com was developed to enhance, streamline, and expand disability employment resources and supports.
It was not built to replace the human side of Vocational Rehabilitation; it was built to help scale it.
In addition, accessibility remains a priority for the site. It's tested regularly and stays under continuous review and development for improvement. Accessibility feedback is always welcome if an issue is discovered.
Slide 8. The Tools Part 1
There are currently 15 ready-to-use tools on VocRehabTools.com. As I briefly describe them, think about how they might benefit your staff, your clients, your work, or even the work of your vendors or partners.
Starting with the Barrier Buster: to quickly identify and develop strategies to help job seekers overcome employment barriers. This tool is great for brainstorming solutions to known barriers as well as identifying underlying barriers that may not be as obvious. This is also a wonderful testing-tool for new VR staff to develop their problem-solving skills.
Next, is the JCTS / SE / CE Rationalizer: this tool helps a user determine if Job Coach Training, Supported Employment, or Customized Employment services are necessary; and facilitates writing a justification if needed.
Next is the Vocational Assessment: this is a comprehensive, structured assessment that considers over 35 participant data points to assist in job goal development and vocational planning. It's important to note that this is not a formal vocational evaluation and it's not intended to replace one. Think of this tool as a solid first draft that can help anyone exploring career options get a clearer picture of their strengths, interests, preferences, and the types of jobs that might be a good fit for them.
Next, we have the Resume Builder. Unlike most resume builders online that require personally identifying information, this one does not. However, you can still quickly generate the overall structure and content of a resume. It includes keyword-matching if a specific job description is provided and helps users to write the substance of a resume, like the professional summary, job duties, and skills. Extra resume tips, guidance, and the option to draft a matching cover letter are also provided from the tool's response.
Slide 9. The Tools Part 2
Next up is the Voice Case Note Editor / Generator: this tool can be used to turn rough draft notes into professional, thorough case notes (or, actual service notes). The tool offers the option for voice or text input and several quick-edit options for customizing the output. There's even a custom edit request field where you can provide additional requests for editing or for repurposing your case note - the options are truly endless once you start testing out the tool.
Our next tool is a non-AI tool: the SSI Disability & Work Earnings Calculator. The tool estimates the impact of work earnings on SSI Disability cash benefits. It breaks down the calculation both mathematically and visually on-screen, and is updated annually to reflect any changes.
The next two tools actually work hand in hand. The Disability Disclosure Decision-Making Helper guides users through the decision of whether, when, and how to disclose a disability to an employer. It helps weigh the pros and cons in a structured, thoughtful way. Once that decision is made, the Disclosure & Accommodation Request Script Builder helps generate a personalized, professional script for disclosing a disability and requesting reasonable accommodations.
Slide 10. The Tools Part 3
Next up, we have the Work Readiness Assessment: used to quickly assess work readiness, skills, and potential accommodations needed for successful employment. The tool generates a work readiness report that can be used in vocational planning to help individuals understand their strengths and receive recommendations for areas that could use improvement.
Next is the Job Interview Preparation Generator: this tool creates customized job interview practice plans and sample interview questions to help students and clients with disabilities (or anyone) build confidence and succeed in job interviews. AI will deliver an interview preparation plan based on your specific inputs, along with a one-page "Job Interview Cheat Sheet" customized with additional guidance and practice. This tool also works as an AI mock interview resource to help users prepare with realistic questions and coaching points. The tool can produce an extremely individualized plan for working with clients one-on-one, or can create a more generalized plan that staff could use for working with a group of clients.
Next, we have the Business Outreach & Partnership Generator, that quickly creates customized, professional communications for employer outreach, event invitations, business relationships, and other various partnership opportunities.
Next is the Criminal Background "Pivot" tool: this can be used to help justice-involved job seekers professionally frame their stories in applications, interviews, and/or hiring discussions to focus on their skills and growth rather than their legal history.
Slide 11. The Tools Part 4
Rounding out the full toolkit, we have...
The Job Goal Alignment Checker: to quickly assess if a job seeker's employment goal is aligned with their strengths, interests, limitations/disabilities, and local labor market. This tool is great for both developing a job goal and for general career exploration.
Next, is the Progress Measure Generator: to help users create clear and customized progress measures that assist in developing an Individualized Plan for Employment. This tool may also assist other disability employment staff, like job coaches, who may need to develop progress measures for their service plans or records.
And last, but certainly not least, is the Remote Work Feasibility Analyzer: this tool helps assess feasibility and generates skill development recommendations for people with disabilities seeking remote work or hybrid employment.
Slide 12. Tool Walkthrough Example
Now that we've described the available tools, I want to walk you through one of them from start to finish so you can understand how these tools work in practice.
This example will demonstrate how almost all of the tools work - most follow the same simple workflow. I'm going to use the Job Goal Alignment Checker as our example today.
Slide 13. Getting Started.
As you'll notice, each tool page begins at the top with a description of the tool and its purpose, followed by simple instructions to use the tool, and a privacy reminder not to enter any personally identifying information. Next, most of the tools have form fields. Each field has a title, extra description if needed, and sometimes, placeholder text to help guide the user through the inputs. While this particular tool is relatively short, some tools are much more comprehensive.
Slide 14. Step 1: Fill in the Form Fields
I want to be clear about something here, because people often worry about this: you do not need to be 100% accurate or technical; and you do not need to use clinical language, but of course, you can if you wish to do so.
These tools were designed to work with plain, everyday language. Proper grammar is not needed, but punctuation can help separate your data more accurately; and minor typos are typically okay. Of course, major spelling errors could be problematic if they change the meaning of your information - so always keep that in mind.
For this example, I purposely entered inputs without any capitalization, a few spelling errors, and using very plain language, along with not having definite answers for all of the inputs. For example, the Job Goal field was completed with "something in construction," the Skills and Positive Traits field was completed with "im good at driving a tractor and my frinds say i'm a good listener. oh and I also good at keeping my room clean."
Now, the more detail you provide, the better and more accurate your output is going to be - but even if you don't have all the answers, that's okay. Entering the word 'unknown' or 'unsure' in a field, if needed, is completely acceptable and should still produce a useful result.
Slide 15. Step 2: Click Generate Prompt
Once you've filled in the form fields, simply click the Generate Prompt button - the tool then instantly compiles everything into a structured, AI-ready prompt.
Alongside the generated prompt, there's an Instructions and Disclaimer box reminding users of three important things:
- to not enter any personally identifying information,
- that any AI-generated output should be reviewed and verified,
- and, the tools are designed to support professional judgment - not replace it.
Slide 16. Step 3: Copy & Paste Into Your Preferred AI
Once your prompt has been generated, all that's left to do on the VocRehabTools side is click the Copy to Clipboard button. From there, you'll open whatever AI LLM platform you're most comfortable with, have access to, or are allowed to use through your organization. Any LLM like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini will work. Once you're in your AI platform of choice, you simply paste the prompt into the chat box and click send or enter.
This is the step where you can make any changes to the prompt if you wish to do so. You would do this simply by editing the prompt before you enter it into the AI chat.
At this point, AI will return a result based on the prompt you entered, so now, let's talk about the AI results!
Slide 17. Your AI Generated Result
This slide includes 3 screenshots of the AI response to the prompt I used from the Job Goal Alignment tool example. You're most likely not going to be able to read these screenshots, and that's completely intentional. It's not the specific words I want to showcase here, because you can test this out on your own device at any time. Here, I just wanted to highlight the volume and the structure of the response.
What AI returned from that single copy-and-paste prompt is a comprehensive, detailed, organized response that's specific to the inputs you entered. It's a thorough result that a counselor, job coach, supervisor, job seeker, or anyone, can start to work with!
Slide 18. What To Do With Your AI Result
Now that you have this result - what do you actually do with it? First and most importantly, you review it and you apply your own knowledge and judgment.
It's important to remember that while the inputs you provided give AI a lot of context to work with, it may still miss certain nuances - like your agency's specific policy requirements or the complexity of a particular client situation.
So, from there, you really have two main options:
- You can continue the AI chat — to ask follow-up questions, request changes to the tone or format, ask for something additional, or repurpose the output entirely for another use. For example, if you generated a Vocational Assessment report, but also wanted a shorter summary for your case notes, you could simply ask AI to rewrite it as a short summary right there in the same chat.
- You copy the result at whatever point you're satisfied, make any final edits, and use it — whether that's in a report, a planning document, a case note, a letter, or even just a reference point in your mind to help you prepare for your next conversation with a client, partner, or supervisor.
Either way, the tools get you to a strong starting point in minutes. Where it goes from there is entirely up to you.
Slide 19. Using AI Responsibly
I know I've mentioned these things earlier, but it's worth having its own slide. It's something I take seriously as the person who built these tools.
First and foremost: never enter personally identifying information into any unsecured AI platform. VocRehabTools.com does not collect or store any of the information you enter into the form fields — but once you begin using an external AI platform, you are subject to that platform's own data and privacy policies. So, keep it anonymous and protect yourself and the people you serve.
Second: always review AI outputs before using them. AI can sometimes produce errors, outdated information, or incomplete information depending on a variety of factors. If you're using these tools as a professional, then your professional judgment is not optional.
Third: if your organization has policies or procedures around AI use, make sure you're working within those parameters.
And lastly: be sure to implement informed consent when using AI in vocational counseling, planning, or service provision. It's as simple as being human-first, transparent, and ethical with the people you serve, as you already do.
Slide 20. Tips & Reminders
A few final tips before we move on.
- First: if you're not happy with your result, try a different AI platform if you have access to one. Different platforms can produce very different responses from the exact same prompt, and one may simply work better for a particular situation than another.
- Second: AI is constantly changing. New platforms emerge, existing ones improve, and what works best today may look different tomorrow. Stay open to that, and don't be afraid to adjust if needed.
- Third: always start a fresh chat when switching tasks or moving to a new client situation. AI platforms can carry over context from previous conversations in ways you might not readily notice, and a clean chat is the simplest way to make sure you're getting a clean result. Also, if you use a platform with preset instructions, memory, or a customized agent, just be aware that those settings will influence your output.
- Fourth: It's important that you understand the AI provider or LLM that you're using. If you're able to do so, participate in training or continued professional development sessions to learn more about how to use your AI provider most accurately and effectively.
- Fifth: check back on VocRehabTools.com periodically. The platform is actively growing, with new tools in development and ongoing improvements.
Slide 21. Who Can Use VocRehabTools.com?
I want to be specific here, because the reach is broader than people might initially expect.
Starting with, of course... Vocational Rehabilitation professionals — VR counselors, placement counselors, support staff, supervisors, business development staff, and leaders can all find value here — whether they're brand new and still building their knowledge base, or seasoned professionals looking for efficiency tools.
VocRehabTools.com may also be valuable to job coaches, transition coordinators, case managers, special education teachers, direct support providers, business development specialists, and employers, etc.
Individuals with disabilities and their families or support systems can use the tools directly too.
Bottom line: VocRehabTools.com is built for anyone who needs support in the disability employment space.
Slide 22. Specific Use-Cases for VocRehabTools.com
So now that you know who can use VocRehabTools.com, let me walk through a few ways that it can actually show up in VR practice.
- 1. In real time. These tools can be pulled up during a meeting or appointment — worked through live with a client on screen, whether virtual or in-person — functioning as a live planning resource right there in your meeting.
- 2. For brainstorming. Staff can use the tools to prepare for upcoming appointments, to help with case planning, to draft progress notes, or to think through a client's situation before they ever walk in the door. Individuals and clients can also use the tools independently to explore their own options.
- 3. While they wait. For individuals who don't yet qualify or who have been placed on a waiting list, VocRehabTools.com gives them something meaningful and free to engage with while they wait.
- 4. Within structured services. Many tools integrate naturally into Job Club activities or Pre-Employment Transition Services.
- 5. To support client engagement. Depending on the client, many participants will be able to access and use VocRehabTools independently, whether that's before appointments, while waiting for eligibility determination, or at any point in their vocational journey. This not only fosters rapid engagement, but extends opportunities for clients to be involved in the VR process between scheduled services, which contributes to sustained participant engagement.
- 6. As a foundational learning resource. For new staff or employers wanting to better understand disability employment, the tools help by simply working through them. Using the tools builds familiarity with the right questions to ask, the factors to consider, common strategies, available support resources, and the language used in the field. While it's not a formal training platform, VocRehabTools.com can serve as a self-directed foundational learning resource.
I encourage you to explore the site, play around with the tools, and talk with your team about creative ways to use the tools. Remember, these are entirely optional efficiency boosters - you don't have to use them for every single task. Think of them as tools to lighten your heaviest tasks, or as great mock case studies for newer staff.
Slide 23. And that brings us to the end of this presentation! I hope you're left with at least a few tools you're excited to try, a clearer picture of how AI can support Vocational Rehabilitation, and some ideas for how VocRehabTools.com could fit into your own workflow or to help the people you serve.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me by email or on LinkedIn! My email address is [email protected] and my LinkedIn URL is www.linkedin.com/in/5t3f.