welcome to voc rehab boot camp I'm Nick the vet all right this video is on the five things you need to know before you step foot into your first meeting with your counselor and the reason I'm telling you these definitions is because a lot of times what the counselors will do is use these words as though they have a Webster's definition when they really have a VA definition and you will go in there thinking of the Webster's definition with the Webster's definition you won't be entitled but with the VA definition you will be entitled so the first one is eh anybody that's been looking at my videos should know by now what an eh is but it's an employment handicap and it basically means that your service-connected disabilities keep you from being able to do your job successfully or maintain a job or get a job basically but you can look up the full definition below and then there's a serious employment handicap that it's made up of nine different points that you have to meet it is not the same as being seriously handicapped it is not the same as having a severe handicap a serious employment handicap is again nine points that you have to meet that means you have a hindrance to your employability and you are past the 12 year mark for since since getting your SCD rating so you need to know what it is and what an seh is so they can't trick you and tell you that you don't have one the third thing that you need to know is suitable now the Webster's definition of suitable I'm sure you know what it is but the VA definition of suitable it's very important to know because they'll use terminology like when you have a job so you don't need to have services with us you need to be able to come back and say yes but I don't have suitable employment which is required based on and 28r part four section B chapter two pages 2 - 11 and 2 - 12 suitable employment is employment that is consistent with your expressed interest aptitudes and abilities and can be measured or determined it does not exacerbate your service-connected disabilities it is stable and continue and requires reasonably developed skills so what that means is if you go in and they say well you already have a job so we're not going to give you a voc rehab services you say yeah but it's not suitable because it exacerbates my STDs because I'm not interested in it because anybody can do it it doesn't require any kind of develop skills to do it and even without that last option really the fact that it exacerbates STDs is primary so again that's eh SCH suitable the next one is overcome they won't tell you the definition of overcome I asked them about seven different times what it meant they pretended they didn't know but when they say you've overcome your hindrance to employability through your education and training that's that's the one that they try to use for people who have bachelor's or master's degrees or even associate's degrees but overcome has a specific definition and it is an individual may overcome the effects of the impairment of employability through employment in or qualifying for employment in an occupation consistent with his or her abilities and interests now that's the portion that they try to stick on you you've overcome it because you have a job that you can do that's what they say but the last part of that definition is the one that you need to be aware of this situation includes an individual who qualifies for a super job but who does not obtain or maintain the job for reasons not within his or her control so what that means is doesn't matter if you have a degree if you're in a job that you cannot maintain or you don't have a job and you cannot obtain a job due to no fault of your own which means I'm going to my interviews I'm dressing professionally I'm speaking professionally I've got a good resume I just can't seem to get a job that means you have not overcome the vocational impairment therefore you do have an employment handicap so when they try to say oh you've overcome it because you have a degree you come back with this definition of overcome based on the definition I have not overcome it so make sure you know that so again employment handicap serious employment handicap suitable overcome and the last one is a vocational impairment that is the easiest thing to get qualified because all it really basically means is that your service-connected disabilities are causing you a problem so if you have that that is a vocational impairment and usually they have no problem saying you have that what they will have a problem with is saying you have an employment handicap because that's the trigger that will get you the benefit so a vocational impairment is defined in the in 20 and our chapter 2 as the restrictions on employability that are caused by your sed so it's very simple then usually like I said have no problem saying you have that it's the next phase if they have a problem with so know those things so that way when the counselor tries to say you don't have it or you do have it you can come back and encounter and get your entitlement all this is about education and understanding none of this is its secret none of this is confusing eh and seh is the key and as you understand what you have and you're able to communicate it verbalize it you should be able to defend it and get your entitlement that's the whole goal hope that all makes sense thanks for watching I'm Nicola that