Book Gives Rehabilitation Counselors New Information on Emerging Disabilities

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Lynn Koch, left, and Phillip Rumrill

Most graduate programs prepare rehabilitation counselors as generalists because they need to be able to serve a wide range of people with different needs. Lynn Koch and Phillip Rumrill teamed up recently to write a book offering these counselors in-depth information they may need about a specific disability the next time a client comes through the door.

The book, Rehabilitation Counseling and Emerging Disabilities published by Springer, is also designed as a complimentary textbook for master's level courses on medical and psychosocial aspects of rehabilitation counseling.

Koch, University of Arkansas professor of rehabilitation education and research, and Rumrill, Kent State University professor of rehabilitation counseling, focus on what they call emerging disabilities and provide detailed information on medical, psychosocial and vocational aspects of these disabilities.

Emerging disabilities are those recently recognized and increasing in prevalence in a population such as Lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity and fibromyalgia and those established conditions that are increasing in prevalence in a population or specific segment of a population such as asthma, autism and type 2 diabetes.

"Rehabilitation counselors can anticipate providing more services to people with these disabilities," Koch said. "Chronic pain has not been fully recognized in the past and it has a tremendous impact on people's lives, for example. These emerging disabilities are often minimized or hidden from society."

She also cited an increase in disabilities related to climate change and natural disasters including both the physical injuries that can be inflicted by weather events such as hurricanes and floods and the emotional impact of losing home and family.

Koch said climate change is adversely affecting air and water quality, which exacerbates many health conditions from asthma to psychiatric disabilities. Being forced to evacuate or living with the risk of recurrent weather events contributes to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

"All of these have a dramatic effect on human health and function," she said.

A course syllabus, class presentations and test questions are also available from the publisher. Koch and Rumrill emphasize self-reflection by counselors.

"Rehabilitation counselors need to be aware of potential biases and educate themselves to put aside biases so they can ethically and responsibly provide services," Koch said. "The book also takes a holistic approach. In rehabilitation counseling, you can't just look at an individual and a disability and determine what services and accommodations are needed."

Elements such as race, gender, socioeconomic status and the cause of a disability must be taken into account, she said.

"We truly believe this is critical information our students need to have that they are not getting elsewhere so that is why we are incorporating it into our courses and we hope other educators will," Koch said. "We hope the book will enhance our students' abilities to serve contemporary rehabilitation consumers."

Rumrill talks with practitioners at Kent State alumni events, at professional conferences and through consulting work he does with rehabilitation agencies.

"It's important for us as educators to stay current, to keep track of what's going on so we make training relevant to what they're doing," he said.

Need for rehabilitation counselors will continue to grow in several areas, he said, including working with veterans who have traumatic brain injuries.

"They are dealing with the trauma of the injury itself, and they need help to reintegrate into society," Rumrill said.

Both Koch and Rumrill described the tremendous increase in services needed to help children with autism make the transition into college, careers or independent living as adults. New federal legislation is focusing services on youth during this time of transition and requiring that traditional sheltered workshops be phased out in favor of employment in the community, Rumrill said.

"In 1968, one in 1,600 children was diagnosed with autism," he said. "Now, it's one in 68 children. That is huge and we have to deal with such large numbers of kids coming to the time to transition from school. Many are of normal intelligence and they want to go to college. We have to address their social needs and their emotional needs."

And, more young people with psychiatric disabilities are going to college now, Koch said, increasing the need for counseling services on campuses.

Koch and Rumrill began working together when Koch was on the faculty at Kent State before she joined the University of Arkansas faculty. Rumrill earned his doctorate from the U of A. Both believe in mentoring younger faculty members as well as graduate students and invited several from both their universities to contribute to chapters of the book.