Career Counseling for Individuals with Disabilities

1. Career Counseling for Individuals with Disabilities [Chapter 14]

2. Special Considerations • Mental and physical disabilities affect job adjustment, career development and career choice • Adjustment • Attitudinal Barriers • Individuals labeled handicapped or disabled often experience workplace discrimination • Often perceived as second class citizens and do not receive the same treatment as temporarily able persons

3. Special Considerations • Onset • Early onset can limit self esteem, dependence, and assertiveness; these are factors that can hinder career development • Late onset (adulthood) can require individuals established in a field to require additional training or can cause a complete shift in career field • Social and psychological problems often accompany individuals with a disabilities…this can impact the career counseling process significantly

4. Americans with Disabilities Act • Signed into law July 26, 1990 (page 375) • Defines individuals with disabilities • Sets standards for the accommodation of individuals with a disability • Auxiliary aids • Physical barriers • Employment Rights • Compliance requirements • Transportation

5. Multicultural Issues • Of the 49 million people w/ a disability between the ages of 15 and 64 • 9.6% Asian American • 17% Hispanic • 21% African American • 27% Native American • Often have double or trip minority status • Ethnic minority + disability • Ethnic minority + disability + female status

6. Implications for Career Guidance • Rehabilitation Agencies • State Rehabilitation Agencies • Provide career services under 2 conditions • Mental illness, orthopedic problems, orthopedic problems, visual/hearing problems, cancer, alcoholism etc. • Privately supported agencies • Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent De Paul Society • Most provide educational skills training, career assistance, and living assistance

7. Additional Assessment Issues • Physical hindrances • Can the person stand for long periods • Is sitting for long periods problematic • Can the person comprehend directions etc. • Does the person have adequate manual dexterity to perform the task at hand • Is the person easily fatigued • What sort of skills and educational background does the individual have, are they capable of enhancing their skills and experience?

8. Career Counseling Program • Review pages 390-393 in the Zunker book • Personal/social adjustment • Peer group affiliation • Worker-supervisor affiliation • Job attitude • Micro-Tower Vocational Evaluation System • T.O.W.E.R.- testing, orientation, and work evaluation in rehabilitation • 13 work samples administered in a group setting over 3-5 days • Measures of aptitude and skilled/unskilled professions

9. Micro-Tower • Motor (electronic connector assembly; bottling, capping, packing, lamp assembly) • Clerical perception (zip coding, record checking, filing, mail sorting) • Spatial (blueprint reading; graphics illustration • Numerical (making change, payroll computation) • Verbal (want-ads comprehension, message taking)

10. Valpar Component Work Sample System • 16 work samples (see page 395) • Small tools • Size discrimination • Numerical sorting • Upper extremity range of motion • Clerical comprehension and aptitude • Independent problem solving • Multilevel sorting • etc

11. Social and Prevocational Information Battery (SPIB-R) 396 • Designed for use with students with educable mental retardation in junior and senior high schools • Mainly used for placement determinations in programs • Test measures 9 domains that identify 5 goals • Employability • Economic self-sufficiency • Family living • Personal habits • Communication skills