Career Counseling With People With Disabilities

This chapter explains how and why employment is central to an individual’s life, defines career counseling, and explains the role of the rehabilitation counselor in the career counseling process. The relationship between the personality of an individual and their disability, the expectations from the work environment, and the attitudinal dynamics toward disability are multidimensional, ongoing, and changing. Therefore, the role of a rehabilitation counselor is essential and critical in working with persons with disabilities, as learning to cope and address these multifaceted issues are required for entering into and in sustaining employment over the long term. The chapter discusses the stages of change (SOC): precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and motivational interviewing. It discusses the six statuses of the INCOME model and explains why statuses instead of stages are more appropriate for working with persons with disabilities. The chapter explains interventions that are commonly used in the career counseling process.