The Counselor Client Relationship at Work

Discussion Essay Questions
1
An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodations for a disabled worker so long as it does not put undue hardship upon the employer. Reasonable accommodations refer to changes that are implemented either to the workplace environment or to the position occupied by the disabled worker. So long as the disabled worker is still qualified to do the job, the employer, under the ADA, has to accommodate the worker’s disability—so long, of course, as it does not cause the employer undue hardship (Repa, 2018).
In some cases, this has made it easier for individuals with disabilities to go to work. For example, an elderly manager who had difficulty walking and standing could not use a cart to get around in, paid for by the company—and since there were handicap access ramps and doors in the facility already this was not an undue hardship on the employer. This would be an example the ADA actually helping disabled workers get back to work (ODEP, 2009).
In other cases, the opposite has proven true. Employers have been able to show that making big changes to a workplace or a position would cause the company undue hardship—which means the disabled worker now has to look elsewhere and is likely to get turned down and discouraged the longer the search goes on.
References
ODEP. (2009). Accommodation and compliance series. Retrieved from https://askjan.org/Erguide/ErGuide.pdf
Repa, B. (2018). Your right to a reasonable accommodation. Retrieved from https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-rights-book/chapter7-8.html
2
Upside-down welfarism is what happens when those with the least amount of need get the most handouts from the state, while those with the most need receive the least handouts from the government (Walz, 1973; Blanck, 2000). An example of this would be the TARP bailouts following the Great Economic Crisis of 2008, when banks went bust and the federal government bailed them out, while millions of ordinary people lost their homes and got nothing from the government in terms of assistance.
The U.S. essentially socialized the losses (taxpayers funded the bailout) and privatized the gains (banks got to keep whatever profits they made with their speculative lending practices) and the middle and lower classes got the shaft. Another example would be the fact that corporations get to write off so much when they do their taxes that they end up paying very little into the coffers of the government—at least in terms of what they make; while those lower down on the totem pole—the lower class workers, have to pay a significant chunk of their paycheck into the income tax. The lower classes get taxed, and the corporations get corporate welfare—subsidies, tax loopholes, and so on.
References
Blanck, P. (2000). Employment, disability, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Northwestern University Press.
Walz, T. (1973). The upside down welfare state. Elwood Printing.
3
The influence of the local economy on the provision of resources to persons with disabilities is discernible in the extent to which local establishments make their facilities handicapped-friendly by providing access to and support for disabled persons. As the Governance and Social Development Resource Center (2012) points out, there are many “economic benefits of adopting a disability-inclusive approach” to business (p. 4). Businesses in the local economy can receive incentives, tax breaks and other subsidies by making their establishments more accommodating to disabled persons.
Inclusivity has its perks in the modern development of cities and locales that are being revived to help attract new talent to regions where business is prospering. The local economy can thus provide more resources to disabled people by granting them more access to the community. As King (2011) notes, state and local policy makers are actively seeking ways to incorporate the disabled community into the local economy in ways that will benefit both.

References
Governance and Social Development Resource Center. (2012). Economic benefits of disability-inclusive development. Birmingham.
King, C. (2011). Integrating Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities into State and Regional Economic and Workforce Development Strategies. NTAR Leadership Center, 7, 1-12.

4
Beneficence, autonomy and justice are the three guiding ethical principles that should shape a rehabilitation professional’s philosophy toward a client (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001; Flite & Harman, 2013). Beneficence is the main ethical principle and serves as the foundation for the others. It refers to the idea that a professional promotes the well being of others, especially the client, through positive engagement with an eye towards doing no harm.
The ethical principle of autonomy follows, which refers the respect for the autonomy of the client that the professional rehabilitator should have, allowing the client to make his or her own decisions and not trying to force anything on the client and try to make the client do something against his or her will. The principle of justice refers to the idea that everyone should be treated fairly and no one should be made to feel unequal to others. A professional should show that all people are to be valued at the same level, with care and understanding for all people regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, creed, and any other factor of identity.

References
Beauchamp, T. & Childress, J. (2001).  Principles of Biomedical Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Flite, C. A., & Harman, L. B. (2013). Code of ethics: principles for ethical leadership. Perspectives in Health Information Management/AHIMA, American Health Information Management Association, 10, 1d.

5
People with low vision or who are blind have been so underrepresented in the competitive labor market primarily because they tend to feel that they will not be considered for competitive jobs and seek other forms of employment. They know from experience that there is still a lot of prejudice and bias towards the blind community that prevents employers from hiring people who have difficulty seeing or who have no vision (AP, 2013). There is a taboo associated with it; it makes people uncomfortable and employers do not know how to handle a situation wherein a blind person works (Luke, 2015). What will they have to change about the workplace? What if there is an accident? Could they be held liable? Will they be sued?
These questions and fears are what drive employers in a competitive labor market to look past the applications of blind candidates: they fear the unknown. What they don’t know is that people with low vision or who are blind may be just as qualified as other workers—more so in fact in many ways—if employers would just be willing to give them a chance. Prejudice prevents them from doing so, and so many people with vision issues tend to give up hope of ever getting a job in a competitive labor market, even if they have all the degrees they could possibly ever need.

References
AP. (2013). Many employers still reluctant to hire blind workers. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/employers-reluctant-hire-blind-workers-article-1.1506358
Luke, J. (2015). I’m a blind paralympian with a Master’s but getting a job was my biggest hurdle. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2015/jul/28/im-a-blind-paralympian-with-a-masters-but-getting-a-job-was-my-biggest-hurdle
 
6
The relationship between a rehabilitation counselor and the client he or she serves should be professional and courteous at all times. It should not, however, ever veer beyond these parameters into an intimate type of relationship, as that would undermine the professional/client relationship, wherein there are respectable boundaries, expectations, and norms. It could be considered a form of being taken advantage of, for instance, were a rehabilitation counselor to move a professional relationship with a client into an intimate zone.
Rocco Cottone (2010) notes that the relationship between the professional rehabilitation counselor and the client should always be based on the idea of it being “beneficial” to both the professional and the client: this means there should be nothing in the relationship that could hurt the other—and intimacy has a way of bringing the risk to the fore in a big way, so it is to be avoided (p. 226). Matrone and Leahy (2005) show that counselors can attract clients by being friendly and outgoing and that personal appeal is what results in different types of outcomes, and that keeping the relationship professional does not mean the counselor cannot use charismatic approaches to work.

References
Matrone, K. F., & Leahy, M. J. (2005). The relationship between vocational rehabilitation client outcomes and rehabilitation counselor multicultural counseling competencies. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 48(4), 233-244.
Rocco Cottone, R. (2010). Roles and relationships with clients in rehabilitation counseling: Beyond the concept of dual relationships. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 53(4), 226-231.

7
The importance of a comprehensive evaluation for counselors working with a client is considerable: the comprehensive evaluation is a form standard that identifies targets and goals for the client and allows the counselor to measure performance to see if the objectives are being met. Without this evaluation, there would be no definite way to determine whether the client is progressing along as he or she should be. The form is a helpful tool for measuring the client’s achievement (Granger, Ablrecht & Hamilton, 1979).
How the comprehensive evaluation can help a counselor in their efforts to work with a client are the following: it gives the counselor a standard by which to measure the outcomes of the client. Instead of relying on subjectivity and the counselor’s own opinion—albeit a professional one—the comprehensive evaluation gives a form to the process that even the client can follow. If objections are raised, they can be considered and the counselor can make exceptions accordingly, but for the most part the comprehensive exam gives a good framework for appraising the development and progress of the client (Diekema, Deitz & Amundson, 1998).

References
Diekema, S. M., Deitz, J., & Amundson, S. J. (1998). Test–retest reliability of the evaluation tool of children’s handwriting-manuscript. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52(4), 248-255.
Granger, C. V., Albrecht, G. L., & Hamilton, B. B. (1979). Outcome of comprehensive medical rehabilitation: measurement by PULSES profile and the Barthel Index. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 60(4), 145-154.

8
I counselor can promote self-understanding in a client by teaching the client that self-awareness is the gateway to processing one’s experiences, thoughts, words and actions in a positive way that can help the individual be more in control of the process of healing. The more understanding of one’s self an individual is, the greater the acceptance can be and the greater the motivation to become self-actualizing and ultimately transcendent (Joaquin, 2017).
The process by which self-understanding can be promoted is best implemented using the demonstration by example tactic. The more self-understanding a counselor shows him or herself to be, the more likely this is to rub off on the client. People learn by example: this is why there are so many video tutorials on YouTube—so if a counselor demonstrates to a client how to be self-understanding in practical ways, in his or her daily life, the client will automatically begin to take note and reflect more on this process, and eventually incorporate it into their own way of thinking about themselves (Myers, 2003).

References
Joaquin, S. (2017). What is self-awareness and why is it important for counseling? Retrieved from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/self-awareness/
Myers, S. (2003). Reflections on Reflecting: How self awarness promotes personal growth. The Person-Centered Journal, 10.