The Ethics and Practice of Social Media Advocacy in Rehabilitation Counseling

Abstract

Advocacy is a role and function of rehabilitation counseling (Leahy, Chan, & Saunders, 2003; Leahy, Muenzen, Saunders, & Strauser, 2009). Over the last century, rehabilitation counseling has been an important mechanism for offsetting social disadvantage through legislation and policymaking efforts (Bruyere, 2000; Burton, 1982; Chubon, 1992; Kilbury, Benshoff, & Rubin, 1992). Rehabilitation counseling is thus based on a person-environment fit (Maki & Tarvydas, 2012; Sales, 2007), and a successful rehabilitation outcome is not the result of working with the individual alone, but rather, of understanding the reciprocal interaction between the individual and his/her environment (Hartley & Tarvydas, 2013; Hershenson, 1998; Kosciulek, 1993). As information technology becomes an increasingly integral part of rehabilitation counseling practice (Barros-Bailey, 2012; Byrne & Hartley, 2010; Hartley, Urish, & Johnston, 2006), the emergence of popular social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, and wikis may be an additional tool to confront social inequities that have historically impeded the well-being of individuals with disabilities (Alston, Harley, & Middleton, 2008; Middleton, Robinson, & Mu'min, 2010; Middleton, Rollins, & Harley, 1999). However, further discussion is necessary if rehabilitation counselors are to use social media as a method of advocacy. Attitudes toward disability have improved; however, people with disabilities still experience unfair treatment compared to people without disabilities. Specifically, discrimination towards individuals with disabilities has remained a problem despite the passage of legal protections, such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (Charlton, 1998). For instance, individuals with psychiatric disabilities have unemployment rates as high as 80-90% (Crowther, Marshall, Bond, & Huxley, 2001; Goldberg et al., 2001), and a major reason is the stigma of mental illness: terms such as unstable and volatile have perpetuated the myth that employing workers with psychiatric disabilities is dangerous (Diksa & Rogers, 1996; Weber, Davis, & Sebastian, 2002). Research indicates that 50% of employers are reluctant to hire someone currently undergoing psychiatric treatment, and 70% are reluctant to hire someone currently taking antipsychotic medications (Goldberg, Killeen, & O'Day, 2005; Scheid, 1999). Similarly, individuals with physical disabilities experience unemployment rates of 6070%, (Stapleton, O'Day, & Livermore, 2005), and there are deeply rooted beliefs that hiring an individual with a physical disability will require expensive accommodations to make the workplace accessible (Wilson-Kovacs, Ryan, Haslam, & Rabinovich, 2008). As a result of discrimination, individuals with disabilities must negotiate a complex person-environment terrain. As frontline service providers, rehabilitation counselors can play a vital role in promoting advocacy and empowerment as a rehabilitation outcome (Bolton & Brookings, 1998; Frain, Tschopp, & Bishop, 2009; Kosciulek, 2005). Specifically, advocacy is defined as a behavioral and action orientated, and is an activity that often involves actions to correct some social injustice (Marini, 2012, p. 486). In addition to fostering their role as advocates for social justice, it is equally important for rehabilitation counselors to place an emphasis on their responsibility to teach and empower clients to advocate for themselves (Vash, 1991, p. 14). Importantly, client self-advocacy is the process by which clients learn to advocate on their own behalf rather than letting others advocate for them (Chan, Brophy, & Fisher, 1981, p. 196). History tells us that social movements have often emerged when individuals with disabilities exerted civil rights within the context of their own lives (Hartley, 2012; McCarthy, 2003). …