Disability, Accessibility, and Ethics in Psychology:3 Major Barriers

Kenneth S. Pope, Ph.D., ABPPlink http://kspope.com/ethics/accessibility.php

A profession's values - including its ethical values - are reflected in the degree to which its structures are accessible to people with disabilities. The profession expresses its values through the decisions of the people who are members of the profession to addresses effectively barriers to access or to maintain those barriers through action or inaction. What barriers can block access to the field for psychologists and psychology students with disabilities? What barriers can block access for people with disabilities to the services that psychologists provide? This brief editorial notes three major kinds of such barriers.Physical BarriersWhen I asked psychologists and psychology students with disabilities corresponding on various electronic mail lists what factors constitute the most pervasive or harmful barriers in psychology training and practice for people with disabilities, I was told some genuine horror stories.For example, one respondent described how other candidates for admission to a psychology graduate program toured the building and met with each professor in the professor's office, but the respondent, a candidate who used a wheelchair, had to spend the whole day in one room on the first floor while others came to her.Another respondent told of a library on the second floor, accessible only by stairs (but not for her - she used a wheelchair). She had to ask one of the administrators to go up to the library and check out books for her.

InHow To Survive & Thrive As a Therapist(Pope & Vasquez 2005) Melba Vasquez and I discuss the importance of paying careful attention to accessibility issues for those who use mobility appliances, who are blind, or who are deaf. For example, requiring an audio call in system to gain admission to an office in a secured building will create a significant roadblock for a deaf client.We also included in our list of fallacies some therapists rely on an exaggerated error in reasoning along those lines:Denying the AntecedentThis fallacy takes the form of:If x, then y.Not x.therefore: not y.Example: "If clients or colleagues using wheelchairs came to this office, there would be a reason to make my office accessible. But no one using a wheelchair comes into my office. So there's no reason too make it wheelchair-accessible." To paraphrase a well known media slogan, If you do not build it, they will not come.Internet BarriersEspecially those who live in remote geographic locations, but also people who have mobility problems may rely heavily on the Internet for research, resources, and other services.Sadly, many web sites do not provide accessibility for people with disabilities.Such sites are no more usable by some people with disabilities than a library, lecture hall, or restroom at the top of a flight of stairs would be for a person who uses a wheelchair.Other internet barriers, in addition to web sites that, however unintentionally, block access to people with disabilities, include the use of HTML rather than plain text on internet lists.Internet mailing lists constitute important resources for many psychologists and psychology students, who depend on such lists for information about professional topics, consultation, mentoring, networking, job notices, support, and so on.Internet lists on which all messages are sent in plain text (also known as "ascii," for American Standard Code for Information interchange) promote accessibility.To ensure that messages are accessible, an important step is to avoid using html fixed-size or fixed-color fonts, text that contains italics or bold formatting, html background colors, graphics, and other decorative changes from plain text that can block access for many people with disabilities.In some cases these decorations can override the settings that people with visual impairments use to make email accessible.As one person responded to my informal survey: "when you send email in html format, you're often forcing colour schemes and/or fonts that make it impossible for me to *see* the email (and often is so bright as to be physically painful) as a result of overriding the settings I've got in order that I can function in the online environment. . ."In other cases these decorations can prevent various kinds of assistive technology from adequately processing email (e.g., the program will try to read the HTML coding for italics, bold, different sizes of text, etc., as if it were the content of the email).Cognitive and Affective BarriersIn addition to the physical and Internet barriers, there are what might be described as the cognitive and affective barriers - how we think about, feel about, teach about, respond to, etc., disability and accessibility.On the level of individual psychological services, the section on "Disability Factors" in our APA bookWhat Therapists Don't Talk About and Why: Understanding Taboos That Hurt Us and Our Clientscited Carol Gill's highlighting of how socio-cultural "misconceptions and prejudicial responses to the client's disability" can affect client, therapist, and therapy, and these factors continue to constitute barriers in many instances.These barriers can serve as the focus of questions that have ethical implications for each of us as individuals and for us as a profession: Why do we maintain these barriers, what are their consequences, and what, if anything, are we going to do about them?

Dizabilitate, Accesibilitate si Etici in Psihologie: 3 Bariere Majore

Valorile unei profesii-inclusiv valorile sale etice- sunt reflectate n msura n care structurile sale sunt accesibile oamenilor cu dizabiliti. Profesia i exprim valorile prin decizii, ale persoanelor membre ale profesiei respective, n ceea ce privete abordarea n mod eficient a barierelor n calea accesului sau de a menine aceste bariere prin aciune sau inaciune.Ce bariere pot bloca accesul pentru psihologi sau studeni de Psihologie cu dizabiliti?Ce bariere pot bloca accesul pentru persoanele cu dizabiliti la serviciile oferite de psihologi?

Barierele fiziceCnd am ntrebat psihologi sau studeni la Psihologie cu dizabiliti, prin intermediul mai multor mesaje electronice (e-mailuri), care factori constituie cele mai extinse sau duntoare bariere n formare i practic a psihologiei n ceea ce privete persoanele cu dizabiliti, mi s-au relatat nite poveti de groaz incredibile.De exemplu, un respondent descria cum ceilali candidai pentru admiterea la un program de absolvire a psihologiei au fcut un tur al cldirii i au ntlnit fiecare profesor n biroul acestora, ns respondentul, o candidat care folosea scaunul cu rotile, a trebuit s i petreaca ntreaga zi ntr-o camer la primul etaj pn cnd ceilali candidai au venit la ea.Alt respondent a declarat faptul c exista o bibliotec la etajul al doilea, accesibil doar prin utilizarea scrilor ( ns nu i pentu ea- ea folosea un scaun cu rotile). A trebuit s roage unul din administratori s mearg pn n bibliotec i s verifice unele cri n locul ei.n "Cum s supravieuieti i s prosperi ca terapeut?"(Pope &Vasquez, 2005), mpreun cu Melba Vasquez am discutat despre importana de a avea mare grij la accesibilitatea materialelor n cazul celor ce folosesc aparatele mobile, celor care sunt orbi sau surzi. De exemplu, un apel n sistem audio pentru obinerea admiterii la un birou ntr-o cldire securizat va crea un blocaj semnificativ pentru un client surd.De asemenea, am inclus pe lista de erori unii terapeui care se bazeaz pe o eroare exagerat n motivarea de-a lungul acestor aspecte: NEGAREA ANTECEDENTULUI. Aceast eroare ia forma:Dac este X, atunci este Y.Nu este X.Prin urmare: Nu este nici Y.

Exemplu: Dac anumii clieni sau colegi n scaun cu rotile ar veni n acest birou, atunci ar exista un motiv pentru a face biroul accesibil lor. Dar, nimeni care folosete un scaun cu rotile nu vine n biroul meu. Deci, nu exist niciun motiv s l fac accesibil scaunelor cu rotile. Parafraznd un bine cunoscut slogan din media " Dac nu-l construieti nu vor veni".

Barierele internetuluiMai ales cei care triesc n locuri ndeprtate geografic, dar i persoanele care au probleme de mobilitate pot s se bazeze foarte mult pe internet pentru cercetare, resurse, precum i pentru alte servicii.Din pcate, multe site-uri web nu ofer accesibilitate pentru persoanele cu dizabiliti. Persoanele cu dizabiliti folosesc dect biblioteca, sala de lectur.Alte bariere ale internetului, n plus fa de site-urile web care, cu toate acestea, n mod neintenionat blocheaz accesul persoanelor cu handicap, inclusiv folosirea de cod HTML, mai degrab dect textul simplu pe listele de internet.Listele de adrese de internet constituie resurse importante pentru muli psihologi i studeni de psihologie, care depind de astfel de liste pentru informaii pe subiecte profesionale, de consultare, ndreumare, reele, avize de locuri de munc, de sprijin, i aa mai departe.Listele de internet pe care toate mesajele sunt trimise n text simplu (de asemenea, cunoscut sub numele de "ascii", de ctre Codul American Standard pentru Schimbul de Informaii) pentru promovarea accesibilitii.Pentru a se asigura c mesajele sunt accesibile, un pas important este s se evite folosirea de fonturi HTML de mrime fix sau culoare fix,text care conine caractere cursive sau ngroate, culori de fundal HTML, grafice, precum i alte schimbri decorative din textul simplu care pot bloca accesul multor persoane cu dizabiliti.n unele cazuri, aceste decoraiuni pot suprascrie setrile pe care persoanele cu deficiene de vedere le utilizeaz pentru a face accesibile e-mailurile.Multe persoane au rspuns la sondajul meu informal: " Atunci cnd trimitei e-mail n format HTML, m foreaz de multe ori schemele de culori i/ sau fonduri care m mpiedic pe mine s vad e-mailul (i adesea, este att de luminos nct provoac o durere fizic), ca urmare a multor setri utilizate n mediul online.."n alte cazuri, aceste decoraiuni pot preveni diferite tipuri de tehnologii de asisten din prelucrarea n mod corespunztor de e-mail (de exemplu, programul va ncerca s citeasc codul HTML pentru caracterele cursive, ngroate, cu diferite mrimi de text etc, ca i cum ar fi fost coninutul e-mailului.).

Barierele cognitive i afectiven plus fa de barierele fizice i internet, exist ceea ce ar putea fi descris ca barierele cognitive i afective- fa de modul n care gndim, simim, nvm, raspundem etc. i anume dizabilitate i accesibilitate.La nivelul serviciilor psihologice individuale, seciunea "Factori ai dizabilitii" din cartea noastr APA, " Despre ceea ce nu vorbesc terapeuii i de ce: nelegerea tabu-urilor care ne rnesc pe noi i pe clienii notri", citeaz Carol Gill n ceea ce privete nivelul socio-cultural, despre cum "concepiile greite i rspunsurile duntoare ale clienilor cu dizabiliti" pot afecta clientul, terapeutul, i terapia, i aceti factori continu s constituie bariere n multe cazuri.Aceste bariere pot servi ca punct central al ntrebrilor care au implicaii etice pentru noi ca indivizi i pentru noi ca profesie: De ce meninem noi aceste bariere, care sunt consecinele lor, i ce, dac este posibil, putem face n privina lor?