This course is designed for vocational rehabilitation counselors who, apart from the Business Enterprise Program, have limited knowledge about self-employment for VR consumers with blindness or low vision. Competitive integrated employment, customized employment, and the WIOA as they relate to self-employment are just a few topics discussed within this course.

This course is available for 1-hour of CRC, ACVREP, and NBPCB credit.

Course Objectives:

1. Define self-employment and related terms.
2. Explain competitive integrated employment.
3. Identify some advantages and disadvantages of self-employment.
4. Recognize some of the traits to look for to determine if self-employment is a good option for your consumers.
5. Describe how the Small Business Development Center in your state can guide you and your consumers through the self-employment process.

The following are recommended screen reader and browser combinations.

Mac: Voiceover with the latest version of Safari,

PC: JAWS or NVDA with Firefox.

Note that currently, course quizzes are not functioning properly for Microsoft screen reader users with Chrome or Edge.

The course shows a start date, but this is simply the date the course was made available to the public. They are self-paced. So, there is not an end date. You can enroll at any time.

This course was developed by the National Research & Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC) at Mississippi State University. We are the only national center funded to conduct research related to employment for people with blindness or low vision, and training and technical assistance for the federal Older Individuals who are Blind program. As a national center of excellence, we offer resources on a variety of topics for service providers, businesses, and persons with vision loss on our websites:

For daily content relevant to the field of blindness and low vision, connect with us on social media: