Reducing the penalties of long-term employment: alternatives in vocational rehabilitation and spinal cord injury

Abstract

Obtaining full-time employment following a spinal cord injury (SCI) can be a very difficult experience both for the individual with the SCI and for the vocational rehabilitation counselor assisting them. Maintaining full-time employment appears to generate a variety of negative long-term consequences in financial, physical and emotional areas. Alternatives are presented to remove or reduce the deleterious long-term effects in each of these areas. An expanded role for the counselor is suggested.