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Abilities Magazine
| February 22nd, 2004 | |
The ForumCanadian Association Of Rehabilitation ProfessionalsWinter 1999. Issue 41: p. 35 Forumby Dean Powers As summer approached, graduates from secondary and post secondary schools were looking towards a career and facing the future of a rapidly changing labour market. At the invitation of close friends, I attended the graduation of their son Adam who recently completed a two-year financial management program at a major post-secondary college. Many friends of the new graduate had come together to celebrate his accomplishment and his future endeavors. Adam had just received a job offer from a large commercial realty firm in the city. It was a plum job for a beginner. I was pleased that the family realized the significance of Adam’s hard work and that a celebration was indeed in order. In the corner of the room, enjoying the festivities, was my friend’s niece, Sara, who had been exposed to very different life experiences. Sara, who is a few months older than Adam, experienced a head injury when she was 10 years old from a motor vehicle accident. She had difficulties throughout her education, finally completing grade 12 several years earlier. Sara was neither encouraged to pursue post-secondary education nor did anyone anticipate or expect that she would want to undertake such an endeavor. Instead, Sara was assisted into a job as a junior employee in a fabric shop doing numerous entry-level jobs. Her parents were delighted. Opportunities for Adam will abound because of his visible abilities. The opposite will occur for Sara because of her invisible impairments. Sara and Adam are not equals in our world where systemic discrimination will challenge one more than the other. The "playing field," in terms of occupational opportunity and choice, is not level; Sara has been conditioned to consider any kind of employment. Sara, like many of the clients we serve as rehabilitation practitioners, received a dose of reality counselling from her parents, school guidance counsellor and placement agent. Their influence and expectations have directly affected Sara’s working self-image. The family considered her fortunate to receive the job placement services that assisted her into employment. Sara, who volunteered regularly as a companion at Vancouver General Hospital, terminated her position abruptly in the third quarter of her final school year. Looking at the bright side, she has a job, she is getting paid (albeit minimum wage) and she does have a disability. So what’s the problem? The problem is that Sara has had a dream since she was 10 years old to work in a hospital or medical clinic setting and this dream may have died. There is a tendency in vocational evaluation and rehabilitation counselling to guide a client towards certain conclusions that are driven by the methodology that is learned in our training. We continually teach people with disabilities to expect a reduced role in the world of employment. We counsel those who have barriers to employment to accept any place in the working world where paid employment is available. We have been trained to accept this dimension of vocational rehabilitation counselling. We sanction this view of reality. Our funders, both in the insurance and social services industries, expect us to adhere to this paragon. Attitudes towards individuals with disabilities have changed more in the past 30 years than at any other time in history due to consumer advocacy rather than from leadership in research. Consider the history. Advocacy closed institutions and raised the visibility of the disability community. Associations fostering advocacy for persons with disabilities have exploded in growth across the country resulting in accessibility to resources and programs. We have developed and implemented technological solutions in response to barriers that prevent people with disabilities from competing for jobs. We strive to educate employers about the many advantages (and the availability of strategies) which assist in return-to-work programs for injured workers or in the acquisition of new workers with disabilities. Our Canadian society has made significant advances in just 30 years and we have seen ourselves challenged by the demand for a better life and the opportunity for remunerative employment. Advocacy has been at the forefront of this movement. In 1969, people with intellectual and physical disabilities had yet to win their place in the labour market. In 1999, my sadness for Sara lies not in her current employment situation but rather that she has been conditioned to believe that she is limited and even excluded from the privilege of choice due to her disability. As a vocational rehabilitation practitioner I find myself questioning the old paradigm. How can I act as a catalyst in the labour market so that a dream like Sara’s can be accommodated? How do we apply advocacy to the practice of vocational rehabilitation and balance client ability with reality? Do dreams count in vocational rehabilitation? I think they do. I believe they should be part of the vocational plan and recognized as a life objective. To dream, to hope and to struggle against the odds is everyone’s right. Advocating for it is a part of our history and a professional responsibility. What is happening to Sara is happening to others every day. Our profession is on the front line of making dreams a reality. This article originally appeared in REHAB REVIEW, the National Newsmagazine of the Canadian Association of Rehabilitation Professionals. It has been reprinted with permission. Dean Powers can be contacted at DC Powers & Associates tel:(905)940-9156 or e-mail: [email protected].
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