COUNSELING INDIVIDUALS

WITH DISABILITIES
How is disability defined?
Disability is an impairment or limitation that substantially
limits one or more major life activities.

• Reading
• Standing
• Bending
• Lifting
• Walking • Speaking
• Communicating • Breathing
• Caring for oneself • Learning
• Sleeping • Concentrating
• Eating • Thingking
• Seeing • Working
• Hearing
“Frequently asked questions,”2013)
DISABILITY FAST FACTS

• The number of people with disabilities is increasing as baby

boomers age and as more veterans return home with
disabilities incurred during military conflicts (Shallcross, 2011).

• Improvements in medical care allow greater numbers of people

to survive life-threatening situations – often with disabilities
(Shallcross, 2011).
 Of the 72.3 million families in the United
States, about 21 million have at least one
member with a disability
(US Census Bureau, 2005b).
DISABILITY FAST FACTS
 Stress associated with disabilities increases the risk for
psychiatric or substance abuse (Turner, Lloyd, & Taylor, 2006).

 The most common forms of disabling conditions are arthritis

and rheumatism, back and spine problems, and cardiovascular
disease
(Journal of the American Medical Association, 2000).

 Only 29% of adults with disabilities are employed, compared to

79% of the general public. (D.W. Sue & D. Sue, 2008)
DISABILITY FAST FACTS
 72% of individuals with disabilities want to work. Over one
third of adults with disabilities have incomes of $15,000 or
less, compared with 12% of those without disabilities.

 Individuals with disabilities earn only two-thirds the income

of coworkers without disabilities.

 Minorities with disabilities have an even lower income than

whites with disabilities.

(D.W. Sue & D. Sue, 2008)

Using Person-First Language
highlights the individual rather
than the disability. A disability is
merely a part of an individual
client.
Counselors need to be in the
forefront of assisting individuals
with disabilities to obtain
employment and to complete
education to their potential
(D.W. Sue & D. Sue, 2008)
 Life Concerns for People with Disabilities

• How will I get a job when employers do not want to “take a

chance on a person with a disability?
• When should I tell the person I am meeting for a date that I
have a disability?
• Will I be able to have a normal sex life?
• How can I socialize at a party if I can’t see who’s there or see
people’s faces?
• If successfully “pass” as non-disabled, will people believe me
when I need help?
“Chronic illness/disability”(2013)
2014 ACA Code of ethics
References to Individuals with Disabilities
C.5 Nondiscrimination Counselors do not condone or engage in
discrimination against prospective or current clients, students,
employees, supervisee, or research participants based on
….disability….
E.8. Multicultural Issues/Diversity in Assessment Counselors select and
use with caution assessment techniques normed on populations
other than that of the client. Counselors recognize the effects of
….disability…on test administration and interpretation, and they place
test results in proper perspective with other relevant factors.
H5.d. Multicultural and Disability Considerations Counselors who
maintain websites provide accessibility to persons with
disabilities….Counselors acknowledge the imperfect nature of such
translations and accessibilities.

American Counseling Association (2005)

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA), 1990
• Extends the federal mandate of nondiscrimination toward
individuals with disabilities to state and local governments
and the private sector.
• Title I (employment) prohibits private employers, state and
local governments, employment agencies and labor unions
from discriminating against qualified individuals with
disabilities in job application procedures, hiring, firing,
advancement, compensation, job training, and other terms,
conditions, and privileges of employment.
• Employers with 15 or more employees, including state and
local governments.
• A qualified employee or applicant with a disability is an
individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation,
can perform the essential functions of the job.
• Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited
to:
1) Making existing facilities used by employees readily
accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities
2) Job restructuring, modifying work schedules, reassignment
to a vacant position
3) Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices, adjusting or
modifying examinations, training materials, or policies, and
providing qualified readers or interpreters.
ADA Continued

• Title II covers access to all programs and

services offered by a public entity. (A public
entity is a government institution or an
agency of the government.) This applies to
public transportation as well as all state and
local public housing, housing assistance,
and housing referrals.
 ADA Continued

• Title III basically says that individuals may not be

discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards
to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services,
facilities, or accommodations of any place of public
accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases
to), or operates a place of public accommodation.

• “Public accommodations” include most places of lodging

(such as inns and hotels), recreation, transportation,
education, and dining, along with stores, care providers, and
places of public displays, among other things.

(Information and technical assistance on the americans with disabilities act,”n.d)

Olkin’s Model of Disabilities
 Moral Model
- See the “defect” as a form of sin
 Medical Model
- Disability represents a loss of function within the
individual
 Minority Model
- External problem in which the environment fails to
accommodate
Disability Identity Model

According to Olkin (1999), 3 Disability-Identity Groups stand out:

1) Individuals with some functional limitation who identify
themselves as persons with disabilities or some handicap
a. May identify more with non-disabled majority as opposed
to more severely disabled minority
2) Individuals whose disability is linked to their overall self-
concept
b. Feel they are part of the disability community
3) Disability rights activists who view disabilities as a social
construct or a civil rights issue
Suggested Theories
• Livneh and Sherwood (1991) discuss how counselors can use any
number of theoretical approaches with clients with disabilities:
psychoanalytic, Adlerian, person-centered, Gestalt, behavioral, and
cognitive.
• Counselors select interventions congruent with their own theoretical
orientations and with the nature and setting of the client’s disability.
Using these interventions, counselors help clients with disabilities
gain insight into the psychosocial impact of the disability.

8 Phases of Adjustment for Newly Acquired Disability:

• Shock • Internalized anger
• Anxiety • Externalized hostility
• Denial • Acknowledgment
• Depression • adjustment
Solution Focused Family Therapy

Focus not only on the client with a disability, but

on the caregiver, as well, who may experience
guilt, distress, and anger, among other
emotional issues
Goal: Increase Self-Efficacy
- Focus on choices that can be made
- Solution Focused
- Reframing
Rehabilitative Counseling
 A specific type of counseling that emphasizes
services to individuals experiencing limitations
that have resulted in disability.
 Rehabilitation counseling seeks to empower
individuals with disabilities to maximize
1. Employability
2. Economic self-sufficiency
3. Independence
4. Inclusion and integration into society
Rehabilitation Counselors

• Evaluate and coordinate needed services to

assist people with disabilities in coping with
limitations caused by such factors as
1. cognitive and learning difficulties

2. environmental and societal discrimination and

barriers
3. psychological conflict/distress

4. loss of physical/functional ability.

Rehabilitative Counseling

• The philosophical foundation of rehabilitation

counseling includes the belief in advocacy and
the rights of people with disabilities

• The American Rehabilitative Counseling

Association (ARCA) is a division of the American
Counseling Association.

(“Frequently asked question,”n.d.)

When to consult?
 If we, as mental health counselors, are working
with a client with an identified disability who is
not progressing as well as he or she should, it
would be wise for us to consult a rehabilitation
counselor
(Shallcross, 2011).
 It is important to recognize clients as
individuals with disabilities, not as disabled
individuals.