State Services for the Blind Minnesota: Transition Support for Students with Visual Impairments

When the IEP team brings up vocational rehabilitation for your student with a visual impairment, they might mention VRS — but for blindness-related vocational services, the relevant agency is State Services for the Blind (SSB), a separate division within the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) that provides specialized vocational rehabilitation and transition support tailored to visual disability.

The distinction matters because SSB offers services that general VRS doesn't: orientation and mobility training, Braille instruction, adaptive technology specific to visual impairment, and Adjustment to Blindness Training. If your student's IEP transition plan points them toward VRS instead of SSB, they could miss out on the specialist supports that actually match their needs.

What SSB Provides During Transition

SSB works with school districts to ensure that students with visual impairments have the skills and technology to move into college, careers, and independent living. Core transition services include:

• Orientation and mobility training — safe travel skills, white cane technique, public transit navigation, community orientation
• Braille instruction — reading and writing in Braille for students who use it or would benefit from learning
• Assistive technology — screen readers, magnification software, refreshable Braille displays, and training on workplace-specific tech
• Adjustment to Blindness Training — practical life skills (cooking, home management, personal organization) taught through a blindness-specific framework
• Vocational rehabilitation counseling — career planning, job exploration, workplace accommodations, and employer outreach specific to visual impairment

SSB counselors coordinate directly with the school's teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI) and the IEP team. They can attend IEP meetings and help develop transition goals that reflect realistic employment and independence outcomes for a student with visual disability.

How SSB Differs from VRS

Both SSB and VRS are DEED divisions, but they serve different populations and bring different expertise:

VRS serves individuals with any qualifying disability — physical, cognitive, mental health, learning. Its counselors are generalists who coordinate across a wide range of employment barriers.

SSB serves only individuals who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. Its counselors are specialists in blindness-specific vocational needs, assistive technology, and the particular employment barriers that visual impairment creates.

If your student qualifies for SSB, ask SSB and VRS how they will coordinate when the student has multiple disabilities. The agencies can clarify which program will provide each vocational service.

Getting an SSB Referral Through the IEP

The process mirrors VRS referrals but goes to a different office:

1. Ask the IEP team to make a formal SSB referral. The transition coordinator should initiate this, not just list "vocational rehabilitation" generically on the transition page.
2. Request an SSB counselor at the IEP meeting. Like VRS, SSB staff can attend transition IEP meetings with parent consent.
3. Connect with your student's TVI. Teachers of students with visual impairments are usually the bridge between the school and SSB. If your school doesn't have a TVI on the team, that's a separate problem worth raising.
4. Apply directly if the school hasn't acted. Contact SSB through DEED's website or by calling their office. You don't need the school to be the intermediary.

SSB also participates in Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) for students with disabilities aged 14 to 21 who are enrolled in secondary or postsecondary education, and up to age 22 if receiving compensatory special education services. Like VRS Pre-ETS, these services — job exploration, work readiness training, self-advocacy instruction — don't require a formal application and can start early in the transition years.

What to Watch For

A few patterns families should flag:

• The IEP says "VRS" when it should say "SSB." Generic language around vocational rehabilitation can point a student with a visual impairment to the wrong agency. Make sure the IEP specifically names SSB.
• No TVI involvement in transition planning. A teacher of students with visual impairments should be part of transition IEP meetings — their input shapes the assistive technology and daily living skills goals that SSB will build on.
• Technology gaps at graduation. If your student relies on assistive technology at school (a CCTV magnifier, screen reading software, Braille notetaker), there's no guarantee they'll have equivalent access after leaving. SSB can help bridge this by funding workplace or postsecondary technology, but only if they're engaged before graduation.

The Minnesota IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide maps out the agency handoff timeline from school-based services to SSB and county supports, including how to document assistive technology needs in the IEP so they carry forward into adult services.

See more Minnesota guides →