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The work is devoted to the discussion of visually impaired people in terms of their possible vocational rehabilitation and employment. The work of vocational rehabilitation service is very effective, but still it poses some problems, which touch both the client and the counselor. The main idea of the work is that despite all the conflicts and despite the mostly mixed employers attitudes towards people with disabilities, blind people have all possibilities to be competitively employed. Blindness from the Perspective of Rehabilitation Client Blindness is humans inability to see, that is to perceive visual stimuli, because of pathological changes in eyes, visual nerves or brain. Practical blindness is a term, which defines the vision loss to the extent, giving possibility to receive state grants and privileges. In the USA blindness is defined for people, whose vision does not exceed 6 / 60 for the better eye with the use of correction lenses, and the maximum diameter of the visual field is not more than 20 degrees.
The main feature of blindness is that it cannot be corrected, and this defect deprives the diseased of the possibility to carry out major life activities. In legal documents blind people are called visually impaired, and the word blind is rarely used. It should be noted, that only ten percent of those, who are called visually impaired, do not have vision at all. The term visually impaired means, that a persons vision corresponds certain levels, under or above which he (she) is subject to state programs and is eligible for the vocational rehabilitation. Blindness may be caused by many reasons, which fall into two main groups the reasons may be hereditary or they may be caused by some acquired disease. There are also different levels of blindness, that is there are those, who dont see at all; those, who see only light; those, who can see some shapes or shadows; those, who can distinguish colors; those, who can see, but their view is very narrow, as if they were looking through some tube.
But visually impaired people should not be considered to be absolutely handicapped. They can do many kinds of work, especially if they are trained and have special skills. The blind person may be qualified for some specific kinds of work, and it is often that they can perform their tasks not worse than healthy people do, the main difference being in the fact, that they may need special tools. Blindness should not become a major reason of not giving job for a qualified person. Such people go through the vocational rehabilitation, thus being ready enough for working in any company. Blindness does not mean, that a person will have to get too many sick days, and the employer does not have to worry about that.
Blindness may be the only defect of a person, which will let him work every day without any problem. Vocational rehabilitation of the blind people is aimed at giving them services, which will help them to keep their job, or to find the job, or to acquire the necessary skills to be able to work. Every person, who is considered to be legally blind or visually impaired, has the right to address state services for vocational rehabilitation, where he will be interviewed and will be given all the necessary assistance. The main concern of the vocational rehabilitation client is that he might be non-eligible for work, but the main function of the vocational rehabilitation counselor is to give all the necessary help for a visually impaired person, which will let him (her) find appropriate job.
In their work, vocational rehabilitation counselor works according to the holistic model, that is his work is not concentrated on medical aspects of the clients disease, but he rather interviews the client about his goals in life, and helps him to develop a plan of actions to reach these goals. The counselor usually defines the capabilities and limitations of the visually impaired client, and at the same time, the client himself decides, whether he will agree at the offered kind of service, or he will be able to cope with his problems himself. If the client decides to sign up to the assistance, then the process of rehabilitation starts. Vocational rehabilitation includes many types of services for visually impaired people. The process starts with clarifying all background information for each specific client; it will help to outline his abilities, and to define whether there are any factors, which may influence the potential ability of the client to work.
The services, which are given by the vocational rehabilitation counselors to visually impaired people, may be divided into several basic parts, among which are counseling itself, training, helping to find the job, and helping to keep the job, different kinds of the corresponding assistance. Any disability makes it difficult to find and keep a job, especially when one speaks about blindness, which seems to deprive a person of any capability to work, though this is not so. A vocational rehabilitation counselor helps his client to develop a plan of employment. It is also possible, that the client develops the plan himself, making it available for correction by the counselor. Blind and visually impaired people may also be offered to work in the team, which will help them to develop their employment goals and to achieve them. Though vocational rehabilitation is aimed at fulfilling rather narrow range of tasks, which are connected with employment only, in reality this process is more holistic, enabling people with visual disabilities to live full life and become full members of the society, through being taught to carry out different household chores, etc.
One of the main problems, concerning the employment of blind people, may lie in fact, that they will have to explain their situation to the potential employer. But this role may also be fulfilled by the rehabilitation counselor. Blindness should not become an obstacle for having a job. In case the client develops the plan of his own, the counselor is to decide, whether the plan will finally lead to finding a job, whether this plan is complete and if any assistance is necessary to reach the goal stated in the plan.
The main problem which exists between a potential employer and a potential visually impaired employee is that they rarely find each other. Employers carry stereotypes as for blind people and thus are reluctant to hire qualified workers. Blind people often receive refusals and with time they simply give up. Thats why the vocational rehabilitation counselor is taught to solve these problems. Another problem is how an employer should show a blind person around his work place. Vocational rehabilitation counselor will teach the client how to orientate good in the surrounding, based on sounds, and helping with the white cane.
One more concern of employers is how a visually impaired person will be able to track all necessary assignments or put down the notes during the meeting. But it should be known that vocational rehabilitation programs include teaching clients to use Braille or some kind of an electronic notebook. It is clear from the abovementioned, that blindness is not an obstacle for having a job. And one of the roles of the vocational rehabilitation establishments is to make employers informed about the capabilities of such people. The problems discussed previously, mainly touch the relations between a potential employee and his employer. But there can appear problems between the client and the counselor, in case the client does not agree with the counselors decision.
What can be done in such situations? First of all, the client may speak to the counselor himself and find out if there is any solution for the problem. If this does not help in any way, the client may go to the supervisor, or seek for mediation, which means that a third person, who does not take sides, will try to solve the problem. At the same time, the vocational rehabilitation client has also got some obligations.
He is to closely cooperate with his counselor, for each plan of employment is individual, and is developed to meet the specific requirements and limitations of each client. Thats why ineffective cooperation or failure to work with the counselor may become the reason for interrupting the program. The client should politely treat the counselor; he should go through all the stages of the employment plan and go to work after the program is finished. Despite all discussed problems and obstacles, the vocational rehabilitation is a very effective means of helping visually impaired people to live full life. First of all, vocational rehabilitation programs are aimed at understanding clients problems and finding the ways out of different difficult situations. They help their customers to become employed and more than 90 % of the vocational rehabilitation clients are satisfied with the services they get.
Blindness is used to be treated as a very serious health problem, and it is not fully wrong, but visually impaired people should remember, that one of the main principles of any vocational rehabilitation services is treating every consumer with respect and dignity, finding individual approach to every person, which will finally lead him (or her) to getting a competitive employment. It is necessary to understand, that blindness is a usual experience of humans life, that is people who are visually impaired, are not considered to have some extraordinary disability, but our social and economic attitude towards this disability should be drastically changed. Vocational rehabilitation is a state program and is of no charge for the client, except for some additional services, for which the client may pay in case he can afford it. Nevertheless, the vocational rehabilitation client may expect getting full range of services, available for visually impaired people.
To start with, it is necessary to address the nearest department of VR service. Nowadays more and more people with visual disabilities address VR services, and due to this fact they are able to become employed with competitive salaries, which has been impossible for them before. Of course, there are still too many problems to be solved, especially those, which touch close relations between the client and the counselor, for people with disabilities, especially in terms of vision, are different in their inner and outer perception of the environment, and thus they need a special approach. At the same time, VR services are becoming more usual, helping visually impaired people live a normal life. References Accord, Christine M. (1997). Consumer satisfaction with vocational rehabilitation services.
The Journal of Rehabilitation, vol. 63, issue 2, 5. Ehlers, Connie. (2000). Employers attitudes toward hiring persons with disabilities and vocational rehabilitation services. The Journal of Rehabilitation, vol. 66, issue 4, 17. River-Reiss, Marti. (2000). Vocational rehabilitation counseling at a distance: challenges, strategies and ethics to consider.
The Journal of Rehabilitation, vol. 66, issue 1, 11. Savickas, Mark L. (2005). Handbook of vocational psychology: theory, research, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 25 - 37.
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Research essay sample on People With Disabilities Visually Impaired
