AHRC 5306 Psychosocial Aspects of Disability
What does it mean to be a Person with a Disability?
The person with a disability is one having either physical or mental impairment, which is associated with long term negative impact on the capability to perform the usual day-to-day operations. Impairment is a particular body part that does not function normally or fully. A disabled individual finds it difficult to perform daily activities because of an impairment (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). Primarily, impairments affect movement of arms or legs, affects senses where an individual is blind or deaf, mental illness or learning disabilities, severe disfigurements for instance, skin diseases and some disabilities are likely to get worse overtime, for example, cancer or HIV. A person does not have to be born with a disability as this can take place at adult age.
In some cases, individual disability is a result of inconvenience; some of which can be controlled through medication or necessitates only uncomplicated adaptations. However, some of disability affects individual capability to earn a standard living, to take part in operations in the society, and doing things that normal individuals do with ease. A person with a disability does not mean she/he is not healthy, or she/he cannot be healthy. An Individual with disabilities sometimes finds it challenging maintaining and getting healthy than an individual without disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are likely to suffer abuse, violence, as well as harm than individuals without disabilities.
People with disabilities tend to feel isolated from the rest or have low self-esteem. Notably, the situation might worsen, and the individual could suffer depression. Some of the disabled persons are not able to live in their own houses independently; thus, they need someone to be close to them to help with complex tasks (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). The most commonly used term for an individual with a disability is often deaf, wheelchair user or blind.
Problems & Opportunities Faced by PWDs
People with disabilities suffer lack of acceptance among co-workers, individual characteristics and organizational attitudes towards individuals with disabilities significantly influence the employment outcomes of disabled persons. Individual with disability face transportation challenges (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). Transportation barriers tend to hinder their daily activities in important ways. People with visual impairment disabilities have difficulties with information displayed on computer screens, use of a mouse or any other device that requires eye-hand coordination. Individuals with partial impairment of eyesight might miss some of the messages that pop up at various points on the screen as their attention is normally focused on a small section of the screen.
Persons with various forms of disabilities suffer stigma, usually they encounter this challenge as it is created in the mind of people interacting with them. They also tend to suffer ignorance, discrimination, lack of consideration and understanding. Disabled individuals receive special considerations while seeking for employment in organizations (Mazza, 2005). Employers find it as a way of encouraging disabled people as well as enhancing equity in job applications. People with disabilities help organization to build on customer services as it reflects customers served, thus employers always considers them too. Persons with a disability also receive funding and support from the government in order to improve their living standards.
Individuals living with disabilities are provided with housing. The federal government came up with a disability program to support them especially low-income earners with disability. People with disability receive medical support to meet their health needs effectively. Some of well-wishers fund persons with disability to assist them prepare as well obtain employment or self-employment. The federal government also continuously employs persons with disabilities, and they are non-competitively appointed through process such as schedule A. They are also free to apply for jobs through the normal competitive process.
How a Person with a Disability would go about Integrating Him or Herself into His or Community
A disabled person should try to feel confident while talking or interacting with someone without a disability. Socializing with people without disability need not to be different from any other of interactions. Primarily, a person with a disability should not regard everything said by a person without disability as offensive, but they should accept assistance. An individual with a disability should learn from people in their life how to associate with persons who have no disability (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). The disabled person should be patient with people without disability; they should show the same kind of patience that they would wish to be given. People with disability should be respectful towards other peoples; they should focus on the individual personality.
As disabled, they should seek for an opportunity to discuss about disability and educate individuals about issues such as accessibility barrier they experience and urge the community to look into it. A person with disability should be appreciative of people and organizations supporting them. People with disabilities should not assume that people without disabilities know what they want, how they feel or what is best for them.
Persons with disabilities should express their preferences to persons without disabilities to ensure that they are not generalized. People with disability should respect others peoples personal space while using for instance a wheelchair or a walker (Mazza, 2005). Persons with a disability should encourage people without disability to use positive language especially while talking about them for instance, it is important to put the individual before such as “person who is deaf” will be appropriate to use since it reflects individuality, dignity, as well as equality. Persons with a disability should encourage peoples without disability to reframe from making condescending jokes about their mobility devices such as wheelchair. Persons with a disability should ask people within the community to stop staring at them and avoid look of disgust.
How Disability Influence Relationships
People with disability find it hard to create and maintain families of their own for instance, persons with psychiatric disabilities experiences significant discrimination when they try to exercise their fundamental right to maintain their own families (Mazza, 2005). Despite people having a disability, they live at home where the families make decisions regarding their lives, how they use they free time, their place of work. Parents often experiences stress as well as pressure related to care of their family members with a disability. Sometimes, parents tend to lose contact with friends as they spend much time focusing on the disabled persons. It is commonly for family members to worry about the safety of their disabled family members. Brothers and sisters are often vital basis of support for persons with disability.
Couples raising children with chronic illness (disabled children) are most likely to divorce or separate more than parents who have non-disabled children, and they are not likely to remarry in the future. Supportive parents tend to protect one another towards some of common stresses and risk associated with caring children with disability (Mazza, 2005). The challenges might worsen as parents for instance, realize that children have either communication or mobility disability. Disabled children who grow up in a strong family relationship tend to get quality care, and they normally progress well. Parents with disabled young ones normally take the on traditional gender responsibilities where the mother is one who is the main carer and the father working to support the family. Fathers might feel being out of loop for not supporting their families sufficiently. In a situation whereby a couple work as a team, they are able to manage well and remain positive on their relationship. Mothers in a positive relationship tend to become better parents than one in a shaken relationship.
Barriers to Employment of Individuals with Disability
The factors hindering meaningful economic engagement of persons with disability include personal and structural barriers. Personal barriers include factors such as interpersonal and behavioral problems, inattention, work quality issues and poor attendance (Lemaire and Malik, 2008). Inattention and interpersonal and behavioral problems account for 37.5% of the loss of employment among persons with disability while poor attendance, work quality and interpersonal problems account for 20.8% of involuntary turnover among such individuals. Lack of social acceptance among individuals with disabilities in general due to co-worker characteristics, individual characteristics and organizational attitudes towards individuals with disabilities significantly influences the employment outcomes of disabled persons.
The level of disability also influences employment outcomes among persons with disability. Individuals with severe degrees of mental retardation are least likely to acquire vocational services, as they are easier to place as opposed to those with lower degrees. The skimming of individuals with a disability according to degrees of disability is fuelled by budgetary constraints, which limit the number of individuals who can be placed under vocational services.
Lack of competitive employment for persons with disability is hindered by provision of in day, work and sheltered programs, which exclude supported or competitive employment. Segregation through sheltered employment programs excludes persons with disability from the community (Lemaire and Malik, 2008). Limited funding for supported employment, which receives a minimal, budgetary of the total federal funding discourages the community from providing support-integrated employment.
Further, the collaboration between vocational rehabilitation and the Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver program is hindered by structural barriers such as conflicting views on target populations, conflicting goals of employment, conflicting language and cultures and inadequate resources. The number of persons with disabilities served by the employment programs also influences employment outcomes. Persons with a disability are not in a position to handle some types of job that requires a lot of manual input.
References
Barnes, C., & Mercer, G. (2003). Disability. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Lemaire, G. S., & Mallik, K. (2008). Barriers to supported employment for persons with developmental disabilities. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 22(3), 147-155.
Mazza, C. (2005). Disability. Tallahassee, FL: FC2.
