Specialized Information and Referral (Disabilities Issues)

The agency provides services for people with disabilities related to blindness who live in Los Angeles County and throughout the state of California. Services are targeted to individuals with developmental disabilities related to blindness and congenital deafness. Services include disease/disability information, service cost payment assistance for assistance dogs, and specialized information and referral. There are no geographic restrictions.

Services available include information and referral, training and public awareness and financial assistance to low income people with special assistance dogs.

The agency disseminates information about blindness and available resources and services to other state employees, to local government and private agency staff and to interested people in the community.

The agency designs and delivers training programs for state employees and other public and private agency staff who are involved in providing services for people who are blind. This informational and experiential training focuses on enabling providers to develop more sensitivity to and knowledge about blindness and the potential of blind people, and to be better able to refer clients to appropriate resources.

The Assistance Dog Special Allowance (ASDA) program provides a special allowance of $50 per month for the care and feeding of assistance dogs to eligible blind, deaf, or disabled recipients of Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment Program (SSI/SSP) or In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The eligible client must also have a professionally trained guide, signal or service dog.