Web Board
Disability Disparities
9/23/2009
Welcome to the Web Board! If you have a question or a comment, please send it to the presenters using the form at the bottom of this page.
Post #9: I enjoyed your presentation and can identify with alot of the information you had presented regarding Cultural disparities; I am wondering if your are familiar are aware of any studies regarding Rehabilitation on any of the Indian Reservation in the United State or Alaska, or Canada.
Response: I am not familiar with any such studies, but I believe that Dr. Felicia Wilkins-Turner of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program in Mashantucket, CT would be the person for you to contact. I hope that this is helpful.
Thanks for this question.
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #8: Thank you Dr. Lewis! I enjoyed your lecture today - it was well organized and provided information in a concise manner. The panelists were welcome additions. I look forward to more webcasts from your group, especially on the socio-economic models. Thank you very much! Laura
Response: Thanks, Laura. We did our best. Be sure to check regularly for upcoming webcasts on the project website (www.vcu-projectempowerment.org). We are tentatively planning to have another webcast on "strategies toward the elimination of disability disparities" in November of 2009. Stay tuned.....
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #7: Evaluation form is not working. Good information, look forward to more discussion on strategies in the future.
Response: Thanks for letting us know this. If you would like technical assistance or just need to give feedback about the the quality of the webcast, please contact directly Teri Blankenship (tcblanke@vcu.edu).
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #6: Acculturation can also mean adopting and internalizing some of the bias of the mainstream community that does not always value diversity. We need diversity, skill, training and competency at all levels of the systems of services.
Response: Thanks. I responded already to your first part, i.e., the observation about the bias of the mainstream culture, etc. Please see my other response. Now, I will respond to your observation about needing diversity, skill, training and competency at all levels of the services system. I could not agree more, which is why I mentioned the social-ecological model (Bibeau, Steckler, Glanz, and McLeroy, 1988)at the end of this webcast as a preview to our next webcast in November of 2009 that will address "strategies toward the elimination of disability disparities."
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #5: Indenpendence is central to our Western way of doing things. However, might it be helpful to VR consumers if 2-3 practitioners with diverse characteristics work with small groups of diverse consumers? Perhaps cross-cultural issues would more easily surface for discussion and possible avoidance of disparities.
Response: This is potentially a good idea. It implies team case management or counseling of clients. So, there would be team ownership of caseloads. As long as the resources required to function in this cross-cultural team manner are not more than required in the non-team approach (i.e., staff to client ratios are comparable both ways), then this strategy may indeed have some value. However, in these austere economic times, this would not work if it ends of costing more.
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #4: I agree that we need a diverse workforce but we also have to take steps to assure that the workforce is well trained, skilled in both clinical and cultural areas of our work.
Response: Thanks for this observation. Right, having a diverse workforce is not the end in and of itself. It is great to have a workforce that mirrors the cultural pluralism that is in the client population. However, ultimately, what matters most is how effective the workforce is in working through clinical and cultural issues. I believe it really comes down to working with individuals and understanding what culture means in the context of each service recipient. This is also the reason why rehabilitation counselors are already in a strong position perform well cross culturally because they/we already possess the basic value of individualized services.
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #3: Acculturation can also mean adopting and internalizing some of the bias of the mainstream community that does not always value diversity.
Response: Thanks for this insightful comment. I absolutely agree. When the biases of the mainstream community are adopted and internalized by non-majority racial and ethnic groups, they become difficult to identify and detect, making elimination even more challenging.
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by Allen Lewis
Post #2: The conversation primarily focuses on cultural competence and minority disability disparity as it relates to vocational rehabilitation services. How do the presenters see our communities addressing these issues as we assist youth with disabilities transitioning within our nation's public education programs and across the secondary to post-secondary boundary? How do you recommend applying the model to the nation's research in disabilities education focusing on transitioning students with disabilities across critical academic junctures and transition to the workforce?
Response: Thanks for this question. I see the definition of disability disparities and the model that I offer as being equally applicable to the transition population. By definition the transition population has the same challenges as the adult population (i.e., disabling conditions) and goals (to maximize positive functioning, particularly vocational, in the face of disability to lead to a high quality of life). The transition population just happens to be at a different point developmentally.
As stated in the webcast, the model is a starting point in the discussion, hopefully offering some explanatory power at this early point in its development and lifespan. It has not been validated, but I believe that it has face validity and has some intuitive value on its face. Recall that it offers hypothesized reasons that I believe are plausible for why we see stark differences in the disability experience based on race and ethnicity at each of the five domains along the continuum as well as the macro-level factors that attempt to clarify the concepts for researchers, and the micro-level prompts that can guide practitioner exploration in working with specific individuals around rehabilitation service provision.
Thanks,
Allen Lewis
Posted by AllenLewis
Post #1: Hi Allen, Great presentation. Where can we read more about the disparities model? Is there a publication available or a one in-press? Thanks, Frank
Response: Thanks, Frank. Yes, there is a publication. Here is the citation [Lewis, A.N. (2009). Disability disparities: A beginning model. Disability and Rehabilitation, 31(14), 1136-1143.]. If you have trouble finding it, just email me (anlewis@vcu.edu), and I can send you a pdf version of the article.
Thanks,
Allen
Posted by Allen Lewis
