Race, Ethnicity, and Persons With Disabilities

Abstract

This chapter defines concepts related to diversity and summarizes a foundational framework in the field of rehabilitation counseling that conceptualizes disparities in the disability community. It provides an extensive overview of different cultural perspectives of disability for each of the main racial and ethnic groups represented in the United States. This is followed by documented disparities found in research literature for each racial and ethnic groups in intellectual, psychiatric, cognitive, and/or physical disabilities. The cultural aspects of culturally diverse racial and ethnic people with disabilities are summarized. Brief suggestions are provided to deliver culturally responsive services. The future research directions section suggests that since cultural competence is evolving, it is important to acknowledge the expansion of the definition of culture and provide more rigorous research to address the intersectionality of cultural concepts, as well as mixed methodology and qualitative research to provide a rich description of the multicultural and disability experience.