Welcome to Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services

Leadership change at Oklahoma School for the Blind

OKLAHOMA CITY – Principal Brent Pearce will begin serving Aug. 23 as Interim Superintendent for the Oklahoma School for the Blind.

OSB is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services

Rita Echelle was hired in Aug. 2016 as the Oklahoma School for the Blind superintendent. She will retire effective Nov. 1.

“Superintendent Rita Echelle announced her impending retirement for Nov. 1, 2024. I want to thank Superintendent Echelle for her eight years of commitment to our Oklahoma School for the Blind. I wish her well,” Melinda Fruendt, Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services executive director, said.

“OSB’s High School Principal Brent Pearce is the Interim Superintendent. I want to thank him for agreeing to include this role along with being the High School Principal.”

Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped partners with Bethany Library to provide Braille

Oklahoma City – Oklahoma’s Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has partnered with Bethany Library to make sure children who are blind and visually impaired can read using braille during StoryWalks.

The Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped provides braille transcription services to Oklahoma state agencies, and to various social service entities, nonprofits and others interested in making print materials more accessible for those who are blind or visually impaired.

Five smiling women stand behind a store counter with words Feed me Gems on wall behind them.

Edmond jewelry designer’s passion for hiring workers with disabilities = business success

EDMOND, Okla. - If you ask Emily Nelson and Kacie Lowe why they love working at Feed Me Gems in Edmond, the coworkers and best friends will shout ‘Hannah!”

Their boss Hannah Barnthouse, a jewelry designer and business owner, hires a diverse team with and without disabilities to welcome customers to her upscale accessory shop.

Summer work program for youth with disabilities celebrates success

BETHANY, Okla. – Families and friends gathered August 6 at Bethany Public Library to celebrate the successes of young interns in the BEST STEP summer training and employment for students with disabilities.

Twenty BEST STEP participants, ages 16 to 21, from Bethany and Putnam City received awards at the event.

Read more about BEST STEP employment program

Americans with Disabilities Act has provided equality for the last 34 years

OKLAHOMA CITY – July 26 marks the 34th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This landmark civil rights legislation guarantees civil rights protection to people with disabilities. These rights are similar to those provided on the basis of race, sex, national origin and religion.

The ADA guarantees equal opportunity in employment, public services, public accommodations, transportation, state and local government services and telecommunications.

“We are all about total equality and antidiscrimination,” Melinda Fruendt, Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services executive director, said. “A small amount of consideration can mean you have a great employee or more sales in your business – equality for everyone.”

DRS Helped Me

Go to the Self-Referral Portal

Do Things Differently

Contact DRS

3535 NW 58th Street, Suite 500
Oklahoma City, OK 73112

(800) 487-4042 to find the office nearest you
(800) 845-8476 Toll Free
(405) 951-3400 Main Office

Email DRS

Office Locator

Find an office for services

A piece of pager showing a close up of someone writing their signature

Apply for Services

Download an application

Contact Us

Call or Email Us

Smiling woman with hands on keyboard on desk with dog on couch in the background

Enid disability advocate named DeafBlind Awareness Week spokesperson

ENID, Okla. – Employment is the primary goal for Kristi Bingham from Enid, who was recently named official spokesperson for 2024 DeafBlind Awareness Week in Oklahoma.

Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired and their DeafBlind Services staff selected Bingham for the honor which celebrates the life of American author, lecturer and humanitarian Hellen Keller who was born June 27, 1880.

Read more about DeafBlind Awareness Week

Smiling man wearing sunglasses sits on a stone wall in front of a lake.

Rehabilitation Services ends waiting list for jobseekers with most significant disabilities

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services reopened job preparation and employment services for a category of jobseekers with significant disabilities known as priority group 2, effective June 17.

Rehabilitation counselors and technicians from DRS’ two employment divisions, Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, will begin immediately serving jobseekers transferred from the waiting list.

Library for the Blind volunteer to compete in Miss Oklahoma contest in June

OKLAHOMA CITY - Alyssa Payne, a native of Oklahoma City, always wanted to do voice-over work. She seized the opportunity when she found a flyer at her local bookstore recruiting volunteers for the Oklahoma Telephone Reader program at Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Oklahoma City.

As an OTR reader, Payne records headline articles from The Oklahoman, which are played on-demand by library patrons through a dial-up phone service. In the recording studio, she narrates and records audiobooks and magazines, such as Oklahoma Today.