WORK: A Journal of Prevention,Assessment & Rehabilitation

Youths with disabilities are often precluded from participating in career exploration and planning activities that prepare them for meaningful employment. They do not always have the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers to learn about different career options and to develop important work-related skills. This article presents experientially-based career development interventions that can be incorporated into the transition planning process to guide these youths in (a) career exploration and decision-making, (b) career planning, (c) job development and placement, and (e) career maintenance.

The article examines the compatibility of inclusion and transition, two of the most important reforms to affect the field of special education in recent years. The main premise is that the noble ideals associated with full inclusion have the potential to contravene the delivery of responsive and proven-effective career services for students with disabilities as they make the transition from public schools to the world of work. Additional emphasis is placed on casting inclusion and transition within the context of contemporary reforms in general education, most notably the quest for academic excellence and the related practice of high-stakes testing.

Transition models are needed that address multiple phases in the postsecondary education of students with disabilities. These models must first address the recruitment of high school students with disabilities for community colleges through career exploration experiences that help students clarify their educational and vocational interests and relate those interests to a two-year postsecondary program. Students with disabilities then need a comprehensive service program while attending community college to help them identify accommodation needs in classroom and workplace environments and develop the skills to request such accommodations from their instructors and employers. With this skill base, they are well prepared to initiate the next transition in their lives, that is, the movement from the community college to a four-year educational institution or to employment. Programs are needed to facilitate this transition, such as a placement planning seminar involving rehabilitation professionals and employers and an accommodation follow-up assessment with students in their new educational and employment settings. The ``Career Keys'' model describes how to deliver the services needed in each of these critical transition phases.

Individuals with learning disabilities (LD), the largest group of people with disabilities in the United States, are attending college in greater numbers than ever before. Post-secondary training is critical for individuals with LD to make successful transitions into a changing and ever more demanding world of work. Research indicating that college faculty are willing to provide requested accommodations to students with LD suggests that they are increasingly likely to experience successful post-secondary outcomes, and therefore improve their vocational prospects. However, college students with LD and the accommodations they receive have recently garnered some highly critical press. These portrayals may portend problems in higher education for students with LD, who must self-identify and make specific accommodation requests to faculty in order to receive the instruction and testing environments that they require to succeed. Efforts to ensure that the LD label is not ubiquitously applied and that college faculty attempt to separate the idea of merit from achievement and implement instructional practices to better meet the educational needs of students with and without LD are recommended.

Individuals with disabilities who complete post secondary education programs must be prepared to plan and direct their long-term careers. Despite recent legislation, students with disabilities exiting higher education continue to face obstacles such as negative employer attitudes, architectural barriers, and lack of necessary services and supports when attempting to access employment and pursue their careers. This article describes a comprehensive career-planning program designed to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities as they graduate from higher education.

Deaf people experience higher rates of unemployment and underemployment and earn lifetime wages that are between $356,000 and $609,000 less than their comparably educated normally hearing counterparts. This results in a substantial loss of earning power and career identity for members of this underutilized population of workers. This article examines how communication difficulties pose a major barrier to employment retention and advancement for deaf employees. These barriers exist (a) within the employee in terms of nonfluent use of English and reliance upon American Sign Language, (b) with the employment site, and (c) with agency service personnel. Primarily, these barriers reflect a lack of understanding of the cultural and communication needs of deaf people. Strategies to ameliorate these barriers include a model of long-term employment support using an ecological framework.

The burdens associated with eliminating discrimination on the basis of disability have been bestowed upon those individuals in our society with the least experience in defending themselves from social and interpersonal bias. Offering people with disabilities training in civil rights, barrier identification, interpersonal communication, and problem solving skills to enhance and empower self-advocacy have been the primary means of government sponsored human service institutions to generate the desired social change. There is evidence that these actions are less than effective. Overt public commitment and outreach efforts are needed to effectively elicit change from those individuals who are directly responsible for discriminatory actions.

The article examines ethical considerations related to the design and implementation of rehabilitation research. The authors' primary thesis is that ethical research practice requires rehabilitation and disability studies scholars to (a) adhere to the standards of conduct promulgated in the canons of ethics of such organizations as the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association in all interactions with people with disabilities and (b) maintain vigilance in protecting the rights and safety of participants in specific investigations.