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COVID-19 & Career Challenges for People with Disabilities

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COVID-19 & Career Challenges for People with Disabilities

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Creating Inclusive Career Pathways: A Guide for Counselors

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Creating Inclusive Career Pathways: A Guide for Counselors

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“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”

– Nido Qubein

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Research and understand the legal rights of your clients. Ex: Bureau of Legal Statistics, ADA

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Ethical Implications for Career Counseling Clients with Disabilities (Outlined by the ACA Code of Ethics)

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Ethical Implications for Career Counseling Clients with Disabilities (Outlined by the ACA Code of Ethics)

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Respect for autonomy

Support clients’ informed, self-directed career decisions without imposing counselor biases or limiting options based on disability

Non-discrimination and equity

Prevent ableism, ensuring equal access to career resources and opportunities

Effective communication

Provide accessible materials and accommodations (e.g., interpreters, assistive tech) to ensure clients understand and consent

Confidentiality and disclosure

Maintain privacy; help clients weigh the risks and benefits of disclosing disability status without pressure

Advocacy and social justice:

Address systemic barriers and promote inclusive employment practices.

Cultural competence and intersectionality

Recognize the interplay of disability with race, gender, socioeconomic status, and other identities

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Prior to the pandemic, career counseling had its own stigma toward individuals with disabilities. Career counseling often focused on placing an individual to a job rather than planning to advance one's career/goal planning.

Job placement rather than career development

Limited training/knowledge

Online counseling was not as accessible for individuals with disabilities

lack of accessibility for individuals that are hearing-impaired (virtually)

Limited outreach

(Atobatele, 2024)

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Character strengths across disabilities: An international exploratory study and implications for positive psychiatry and psychology.

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Character strengths across disabilities: An international exploratory study and implications for positive psychiatry and psychology.

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Key findings from Umucu et al. (2022):

Top five character strengths in individuals with disabilities:

Love of learning

Honesty

Appreciation of beauty and excellence

Kindness

Fairness

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Unemployment disturbances from Covid occur on a systemic societal level, so one of the key responses of career counselors should be working to reduce societal inequalities on multiple levels.

What does that look like?

Educate yourself on the politics of the employment situation

Challenge mainstream ideas of what the "norm" of employment looks like

Promote solidarity and activism

Advocate for socially vulnerable groups

(Drosos, 2021)

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Unemployment can be related to trauma or can be traumatic in and of itself. Recognize how trauma impacts a client's work capabilities and career development.

Prioritize client safety; avoid retraumatization

Recognize and address ableism in career search for those with disabilities

Practice disability humility

(Jashinsky, 2021)

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Core of the framework: people need to believe their employment status can change and that their actions can lead to their desired change. (Drosos, 2021)

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I’m struck by how much this article (Drosos, 2021) focused on the systemic elements of career counseling in the wake of the pandemic. I realize how important it is to be a system-level advocate for more services and programming to support those most impacted by the lack of employment opportunities post-Covid. I also have a hard time conceptualizing how that high-level systemic advocacy shows up in the counseling room with an individual. Systems-level work takes a long time; clients need help now. Wondering how those two things coincide.

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“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.”

– Helen Keller

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How can career counselors leverage these strengths in session?

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How can career counselors leverage these strengths in session?

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Practical counseling applications:

Align career paths with clients’ natural strengths (e.g., placing those high in love of learning in roles valuing continual growth)

Use strength-based narratives in resume writing and interviews to highlight client capabilities

Encourage work environments that value fairness and empathy

Provide targeted coaching to develop areas like self-regulation and perseverance when needed

Integration with Wehman’s Supported Employment (SE) model (2023):

SE emphasizes individualized job placement followed by ongoing support

Counselors can tailor SE placements to roles matching clients’ character strengths

e.g., love of learning → workplaces offering professional development

SE’s coaching structure supports development in weaker areas such as self-regulation and perseverance

Incorporating strengths into job development and employer education shifts focus from disability to capability, fostering inclusion

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“My advice to other disabled people would be, concentrate on things your disability doesn’t prevent you doing well, and don’t regret the things it interferes with. Don’t be disabled in spirit as well as physically.”

- Stephen Hawking

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NEED to consider intersectionality when working with folks with disabilities

Black adults have highest rates of unemployment out of all ethnic groups, as well as less access to health care services (Jashinsky, 2021)

Consider health care inequities, lack of proper training for health care workers on disability competency

Need to be working from a trauma-informed place to provide multicultural and socially just care

Ensure that you are treating clients with disabilities with respect and giving them autonomy; do not assume that you know what is best for them or that you know their capabilities.

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“Disability only becomes a tragedy when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives—job opportunities, or barrier-free buildings, for example.”

– Judith Heumann

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Big Ideas: Kristie Patten on Disability Justice and Radical Inclusion (with audio descriptions)

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The key to pulling out of post-Covid recession and unemployment is the government investing in public services and promoting employment (Drosos, 2021).

This is obviously not happening right now, and in fact the opposite is happening in many cases. Need to ask yourself (and client) how this is impacting your clients, both their mental health and their employment prospects.

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As I explored how career counseling affects disabled individuals, I began to understand the deep complexities that have emerged since COVID. While remote work has opened doors that were once closed, the pandemic also stripped away jobs and stability for many, exposing long-standing gaps in our systems. This has pushed me to reflect on the important role of advocacy in my future work as a therapist. How can we truly create meaningful space and support for this community within structures that were never built to include them?

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National Council on Disability | Resources

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An independent federal agency committed to disability policy leadership since 1978

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From Theory to Practice

Second Edition

Read a sample chapter

Note to Readers: Publisher does not guarantee quality or access to any included digital components if book is purchased through a third-party seller.
Uses an integrated rehabilitation perspective to address career, vocational behavior, employment, and disability related theory and research
This highly regarded resource is the only book in rehabilitation counseling to provide comprehensive coverage of vocational behavior and employment theory and intervention techniques as they apply to individuals with disabilities. Scholarly yet practical, the second edition is updated with key information and research, delivering new employment statistics, employment rates, and poverty levels of people with disabilities. Woven throughout this new edition, is the Illinois Work and Well-Being Model, incorporating foundational theories and providing a framework for understanding the critical factors that impact the career development process.

Chapters-written by leaders in the field-are consistently organized for ease of use. Each chapter includes of an Overview of Major Constructs followed by Theoretical Foundations; Occupational Assessment, Information and Evaluation; Intervention Strategies; and Population and Settings. Case examples and discussion questions highlight and reinforce application of theories and techniques. New Sample Syllabi, Classroom Activities, PowerPoints, and a Test Bank are included for instructors. An eBook is included with the purchase of the print edition.

New to the Second Edition:
Provides new employment statistics, employment rates, and poverty levels of people with disabilities

Reviews details of the Work Force Innovation Act

Integrates the Illinois Work and Well-Being Model throughout as a framework for understanding critical factors impacting the career development process

Links with CACREP standards

Discusses relevant new legislation

New Key Concept Boxes, Chapter Summaries, and Chapter Glossary increase accessibility of the new edition

Includes sample syllabi, classroom activities, PowerPoint slides, and test bank

Key Features:
Addresses contemporary career, vocational behavior, employment, and disability related theory and research from an integrated rehabilitation perspective

Written by well-respected practitioners and educators

Organized to facilitate instructor flexibility in assigning chapters without losing course continuity

Part 1: Overview of Major Concepts
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Centrality of Work for Individuals with Disabilities

Chapter 2: Disability Prevalence and Economic Outcomes

Chapter 3: Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program, and Key Employment and Civil Rights Legislation: Are They Working for People With Disabilities?

Chapter 4: The Causal Relationship Between Chronic Poverty and Disability
Part 2: Theoretical Foundations
Chapter 5: Personality Development and Adjustment Considerations in Vocational Rehabilitation Contexts

Chapter 6: Theories of Career Development and Work Adjustment

Chapter 7: Career Development and Disability: A Social Cognitive Perspective

Chapter 8: Cognitive Information Processing Theory

Chapter 9: Empowerment Through Employment: Job Satisfaction Theories and Research

Chapter 10: Work Values: Understanding and Assessing Motivation to Work

Chapter 11: Vocational Interests
Part 3: Occupational Assessment Information and Evaluation
Chapter 12: Vocational Assessment and Evaluation in Rehabilitation

Chapter 13: Occupational and Labor Market Information

Chapter 14: Computer-Based Vocational Guidance Systems and Job Matching

Chapter 15: Understanding Work Analysis and its Application
Part 4: Intervention Strategies
Chapter 16: Career Counseling with People with Disabilities

Chapter 17: Elements of Effective Job Development: Environmental Trends and the Work of Rehabilitation Professionals

Chapter 18: Supported Employment/Customized Employment
Part 5: Population and Settings
Chapter 19: Public Vocational Rehabilitation

Chapter 20: Private Practice in Vocational Rehabilitation

Chapter 21: Results-Focused Service Delivery for the Transition from High School to Adult Life

Chapter 22: Youth and Young Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities: Improving Career and Employment

Chapter 23: Career Development and Employment for Persons with Physical Disabilities

Chapter 24: Facilitating Career Development for Women with Disabilities Using the Client-Focused Considering Work Model

Chapter 25: Essential Knowledge to Improve Employment of Ethnic Minorities with Disabilities in the United States

Chapter 26: Employment, Career Development, and Vocational Rehabilitation Considerations for People with Emerging Disabilities

David R. Strauser, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he also directs the Work and Disability Lab.

Release Date: December 30, 2020

Paperback / softback

450 Pages

Trim Size: 7in x 10in

Number of Illustrations: 10

ISBN: 9780826158154

eBook ISBN: 9780826158161

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Career Development, Employment, and Disability in Rehabilitation

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Find the top health care books on counseling, gerontology, nursing, healthcare administration, psychology, public health, rehabilitation & social work

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Career & Employment Counseling of People with Disabilities in the COVID & Post-COVID World

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Advancing the Human & Civil Rights of People with Disabilities in Illinois

News

Quick Links

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Advancing the Human & Civil Rights of People with Disabilities in Illinois News Quick Links Equip for Equality is interested in learning more about these tests and how they impact job seekers with disabilities. Please take this Big Box Store Survey and contact us with any questions.

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Practice disability humility. Recognize that learning about and understanding disability will be a lifelong process.

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Some new challenges that emerged for people with disabilities after the pandemic include a rapid rise in unemployment. Many disabled individuals were laid off during the pandemic, and rehire rates remained slow as an aftermath and still are a struggle. With this, it is also important to recognize that remote work is not always accessible for everyone. As remote jobs increased over the span of covid and offered flexibility for a lot of individuals, they also introduced new barriers. Some of these barriers include lack of captions on technology platforms, overstimulating digital interfaces and limited education to technical advances. In addition to these challenges post covid, many experienced intense burnout, isolation and anxiety especially when searching for jobs that supported diversity, equity and inclusion.

New Challenges:

Unemployment/being laid off

Technology, is it really accessible for everyone now?

DEI, who supports DEI?

Emotional strain/isolation

Some experience overstimulation with technology if remote workers

Lack of need for frontline jobs now

On the flip side, remote work has also created more employment opportunities

Discrimination/bias individuals face by employers post covid, questioning what individuals bring to their businesses

Last hired, first fired

Stigma

(Ne’eman, A., & Maestas, 2022)

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1. Atobatele, F. A. (2024). The Impact of Career Counseling on Individuals with Disabilities: A Review. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Growth Evaluation , 01, 1531–1535. https://www.allmultidisciplinaryjournal.com/uploads/archives/20250325145020_MGE-2025-2-118.1.pdf

2. Drosos, N., Theodoroulakis, M., Antoniou, A.-S. and Rajter, I.C. (2021), Career Services in the Post-COVID-19 Era: A Paradigm for Career Counseling Unemployed Individuals. Journal of Employment Counseling, 58: 36-48. https://doi.org/10.1002/joec.12156

3. Jashinsky, T. L., King, C. L., Kwiat, N. M., Henry, B. L., & Lockett‐Glover, A. (2021). Disability and COVID‐19: Impact on Workers, Intersectionality With Race, and Inclusion Strategies. The Career Development Quarterly, 69(4), 313–325. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12276

4. Ne’eman, A., & Maestas, N. (2022). How Has COVID-19 Impacted Disability Employment? Disability and Health Journal, 16(2), 101429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2022.101429

5. Umucu, E., Lee, B., Genova, H. M., Chopik, W. J., Sung, C., Yasuoka, M., & Niemiec, R. M. (2022). Character strengths across disabilities: An international exploratory study and implications for positive psychiatry and psychology. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863977

6. Wehman, P. (2023). Supported employment and customized employment: How effective are these interventions and what has been their impact on the field? Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 58(3), 237–247. https://doi.org/10.3233/jvr-230022

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Researching post-COVID career counseling for people with disabilities made me realize how quickly some of the progress around accessibility, like remote work, was taken away once it was no longer seen as necessary. I was surprised by how many people had to fight to keep accommodations that clearly worked for them during the pandemic. It showed me how important it is for counselors to be aware of these challenges and advocate for long-term, inclusive support.

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Throughout the research process, I was struck by how effective a strength-based approach was when working with clients with disabilities. I didn't necessarily find it surprising, especially because people with disabilities are so frequently framed through the lens of their disability and the activities or abilities they have lost because of it. I found the Supported Employment model to be especially effective and helpful for this population in its ability to view its participants/clients through a strength-based lens to provide tailored and long-lasting support.

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The Challenges in Disability Ethics - An O’Malley Interview with Dr. Mary Jo Iozzio

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The importance of competence and continuing education cannot be understated. Counselors should make an effort to continuously update their knowledge, awareness of ethical and multicultural issues, and skills to provide ethical, effective support tailored to clients with disabilities.