Culture and the disability and rehabilitation experience: An African American example.

Abstract

Culture influences disability prevalence, the experience of disability, participation in rehabilitation, and one's overall level of functioning and adaptation to a disability. We refer to these processes as the "disability experience." In this chapter, we draw on our programs and research with African Americans with disabilities to illustrate the pervasive influence of culture in the experience of disability. A fuller discussion of the role of culture on the disability experience of African Americans can be found in

Overlooked But Critical

“…Problems can arise from diverse scar tissue residue (Kozorovitskiy & Gould, 2003) and from each victim's history, based on any type of trauma, from neonatal through adulthood. Rehabilitation therapy is available for multiple problems (Ackerman, 2004;Banks & Ackerman, 2002;Belgrave & Jarama, 2000;Malec & Ponsford, 2000;Mukherjee et al, 2003;NIH Consensus Development Panel on Rehabilitation of Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury, 1999;Schootman & Fuortes, 2000). Common treatment methods include quality rest, appropriate nutrition, a healthy atmosphere to facilitate quality breathing, and using compensatory techniques to add strengths to the person's quality of life.…”

Racial and Disability Identity

“…Customers' developing sociocultural identities influence their construction of the actual and perceived career counseling outcomes (e.g., decisions, interests, choices). African Americans and other people of color with disabilities have unique career counseling needs that are influenced, in part, by their developing identities as racial minorities with disabilities (Adams, 2001;Belgrave, 1998;Belgrave & Jarama, 2000). However, the specific ways in which racial and disability identities influence one's career outcomes is unknown.…”

“…For example, African Americans differ widely on attributes associated with career participation (e.g., education, disability, prior occupational experiences, interests), which adds to the complexity of the career counseling process with members of that population (Kimbrough & Salomone, 1993;Mpofu, 2005;Worthington et al, 2005). Similarly, persons with disabilities show significant within-group diversity in education, race (skin color), and type and severity of disability as well as in other career-related attributes (Belgrave & Jarama, 2000;Belgrave & Walker, 1991;Curnow, 1989;Harley & Alston, 1996;Melchiori & Church, 1997). Differences in racial and disability identity constitute another layer of the within-group heterogeneity of persons of color with disabilities.…”

Womanist Therapy with African American Women with Disabilities

“…Research regarding African American women with disabilities is scarce (Solomon, 1993), but studies that have focused on African American women suggest that African American women with disabilities experience significant hardship. They are less likely to be employed, have a lower average level of education, and less likely to receive appropriate health care compared to African American men with disabilities and European American men and women with disabilities (Belgrave & Jarama, 2000;Hanna & Rogovsky, 1992). While this information is vital to addressing the inequities in their lives based on oppression, information is needed that addresses how these women adjust to their circumstances.…”

“…It is estimated that 13.4 million working age adults have disabilities and, of that number, 2.4 million (18%) are African American (Belgrave & Jarama, 2000). African American women comprise over 54% of African Americans with disabilities (Alston & Mngadi, 1992) and two-thirds of African Americans with physical disabilities (Asbury, Walker, Maholmes, Rackley, & White, 1991).…”