The relationship between race and acceptance of disability when considering services through vocational rehabilitation

Abstract

Over the past ten years, much attention has been given to data that show racial minority groups are not served or underserved by state rehabilitation agencies despite increasing vocational rehabilitation acceptance rates. As larger numbers of individuals from current racial minority groups seek rehabilitation services, it becomes important to conceptualize how an individual's internal resources may respond to services that, as research supports, greatly affect one's quality of life. This study examines the relationship between race and acceptance of disability using Wright's theoretical conceptualization of acceptance of loss. One hundred thirty-two persons with disabilities were surveyed regarding their levels of acceptance of disability using Linkowski's [24] Acceptance of Disability Scale. Our findings indicate that there were no differences between European Americans and African Americans on acceptance of disability in terms of their overall (based on total scale scores) and composite (based on subscale scores) endorsement of the scale; however, there were a few differences based on the individual item scores. Implications for practice and research are discussed.