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Purpose:
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Rehabilitation counselors serve a population of individuals who frequently encounter physical and attitudinal barriers (Braddock & Parish, 2001; Link & Phelan, 2001; Goffman, 1963; Major & Eccleston, 2004 & Phemister & Crewe, 2007) that directly impact their access to employment, education, and healthcare (Crandall & Eshleman, 2003; Sheldon, 2004). Over time these barriers have been found to create internalized feelings of shame, (Buss, 1980) low self-image (Crocker & Quinn, 2000), hopelessness and psychiatric distress (Alloy, Abramson, Metalsky, & Hartlage, 2011; Kidd, 2007; Myin-Germeys, van Os, Schwartz, Stone, & Delespaul, 2001). Despite decades of advocacy and legislation people with disabilities continue to be one of the most oppressed and disadvantaged groups in society (Drum, Krahn, Culley, & Hammond, 2005; Thomas, 2011; Yeo, 2005), with unemployment rates reported as 37.5 percent higher than their non-disabled counterparts in 2010 (Brault, 2012). While rehabilitation counselors should understand the impact these collective factors have on their clients and look outside the medical model of treatment, research suggests that many still attempt to pathologically fix physical and psychological disabilities rather than explore methods of installing hopefulness or optimism in the client through the use of alternative methods (Hughes, 2000; Maddux, Snyder and Lopez, 2004; Marini & Chacon, 2002). |
