This book addresses the developing field of Work Disability Prevention. Work disability does not only involve occupational disorders originating from the work or at the workplace, but addresses work absenteeism originating from any disorder or accident. This topic has become of primary importance due to the huge compensation costs and health issues involved. For employers it is a unique burden and in many countries compensation is not even linked to the cause of the disorder. In the past twenty years, studies have accumulated which emphasize the social causes of work disability. Governments and NGOs such as the World Bank, the International Labor Organization, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have produced alarming reports on the extent of this problem for developed and developing countries. However, no comprehensive book is presently available to help them address this emerging field where new knowledge should induce new ways of management.
This work presents a summary of research evidence on links between work, health and disability. Across two sections it summarizes updated knowledge on adverse effects of distinct occupational hazards, and it covers concerns with employment opportunities or restrictions. The handbook delivers an overview of material and psychosocial factors as occupational hazards on working people’s physical or mental health that may result in functional impairment and disability. This knowledge can be instrumental in strengthening efforts of professionals and other stakeholders to promote health-conducive working conditions and prevent work-related disability risks. It also covers concerns with employment opportunities or restrictions of persons with physical or mental health problems and disability. This field of interdisciplinary research has grown with a broad range of solid new findings that can have favorable impact on work disability prevention and the practice of medical and vocational rehabilitation. Prominent experts discuss this evidence for major manifestations of physical and mental health problems and disabilities. As a further innovative feature, this handbook integrates biomedical, psychological, and sociological knowledge on major aspects of the links between work, health and disability. It is therefore of interest to students and professionals in related disciplines, as well as for stakeholders involved in the prevention of work disability and rehabilitation into paid work. In times of an increasingly aging work force with elevated risks of reduced health and work functioning, this knowledge can contribute to turning the threats associated with disability into opportunities. This handbook supports the overall aim of enabling persons with (chronic) health problems and disability to participate in work and social life.
This scholarly handbook covers all aspects of people with disabilities entering the workplace, including the legal aspects, transitions, types, and levels of employments, the impact of different disabilities, and the consideration of the intersection of disability with other identities such as gender and ethnicity. Comprehensive in scope, chapters look beyond organizational strategies that accommodate an employee’s disability and use case studies to highlight important issues and the individual’s perspective. The handbook concludes with a reflection on the work included in the book, what was not included and why, and makes recommendations for future disability research. Marking a major contribution to the study of workplace diversity and bringing together academics from various disciplines and global regions, this handbook covers a truly broad and diverse mix of approaches, theories, and models.
This path-breaking international handbook of disability studies signals the emergence of a vital new area of scholarship, social policy and activism. Drawing on the insights of disability scholars around the world and the creative advice of an international editorial board, the book engages the reader in the critical issues and debates framing disability studies and places them in an historical and cultural context. Five years in the making, this one volume summarizes the ongoing discourse ranging across continents and traditional academic disciplines. To provide insight and perspective, the volume is divided into three sections: The shaping of disability studies as a field; experiencing disability; and, disability in context. Each section, written by world class figures, consists of original chapters designed to map the field and explore the key conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practice and policy issues that constitute the field. Each chapter provides a critical review of an area, positions and literature and an agenda for future research and practice. The handbook answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability studies. The book will be of interest to disabled people, scholars, policy makers and activists alike. The book aims to define the existing field, stimulate future debate, encourage respectful discourse between different interest groups and move the field a step forward.
This complete career planning and job search guide for people with physical and mental disabilities has been completely updated to reflect the newest job search technologies and techniques. It will help readers identify their strengths; explore career options; find job openings; explore the hidden job market; write resumes, cover letters, and follow-up letters; and perform well in interviews. The author shows readers how to tell potential employers about their disabilities and ask them for reasonable accommodations, and helps readers understand and navigate employment law as it applies to them.
This book integrates the growing clinical research evidence related to the emerging transdisciplinary field of occupational health and wellness. It includes a wide range of important topics, ranging from current conceptual approaches to health and wellness in the workplace, to common problems in the workplace such as presenteeism/abstenteeism, common illnesses, job-related burnout, to prevention and intervention methods. It consists of five major parts. Part I, “Introduction and Overviews,” provides an overview and critical evaluation of the emerging conceptual models that are currently driving the clinical research and practices in the field. This serves as the initial platform to help better understand the subsequent topics to be discussed. Part II, “Major Occupational Symptoms and Disorders,” exposes the reader to the types of critical occupational health risks that have been well documented, as well as the financial and productivity losses associated with them. In Part III, “Evaluation of Occupational Causes and Risks to Workers’ Health,” a comprehensive evaluation of these risks and causes of such occupational health threats is provided. This leads to Part IV, “Prevention and Intervention Methods,” which delineates methods to prevent or intervene with these potential occupational health issues. Part V, “Research, Evaluation, Diversity and Practice,” concludes the book with the review of epidemiological, measurement, diversity, policy, and practice issues–with guidelines on changes that are needed to decrease the economic and health care impact of illnesses in the workplace, and recommendations for future. All chapters provide a balance among theoretical models, current best-practice guidelines, and evidence-based documentation of such models and guidelines. The contributors were carefully selected for their unique knowledge, as well as their ability to meaningfully present this information in a comprehensive manner. As such, this Handbook is of great interest and use to health care and rehabilitation professionals, management and human resource personnel, researchers and academicians alike.
Historically, very few sport and exercise psychologists and professionals from related fields such as disability and rehabilitation have conducted thorough research on individuals with disabilities engaged in sport and exercise. The tide is turning, however, as growing media attention and familiarity with the Paralympics and the Wounded Warrior Project begins capturing the attention of researchers everywhere. By addressing this gap, Jeffrey J. Martin's compelling Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology is one of the first comprehensive overviews of this important and emerging field of study. In this volume, Martin, an accomplished professor of sport and exercise psychology, shines a light on a variety of topics ranging from philosophy, athletic identity, participation motivation, quality of life, social and environmental barriers, body image, and intellectual impairments among many other issues. Based on the author's own experience and insight, a majority of these topic discussions in this volume are accompanied by thoughtful directions for future research and exploration. Designed to spark conversation and initiate new avenues of research, the Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology will allow for readers to look outside the traditional literature focusing largely on able-bodied individuals and, instead, develop a much greater perspective on sport and exercise psychology today.
Each chapter provides a state-of-the-art literature review, practical applications of the material, and key words and discussion questions to facilitate classroom use."--Jacket
This handbook questions, debates and subverts commonly held assumptions about disability and citizenship in the global postcolonial context. Discourses of citizenship and human rights, so elemental to strategies for addressing disability-based inequality in wealthier nations, have vastly different ramifications in societies of the Global South, where resources for development are limited, democratic processes may be uncertain, and access to education, health, transport and other key services cannot be taken for granted. In a broad range of areas relevant to disability equity and transformation, an eclectic group of contributors critically consider whether, when and how citizenship may be used as a lever of change in circumstances far removed from UN boardrooms in New York or Geneva. Debate is polyvocal, with voices from the South engaging with those from the North, disabled people with nondisabled, and activists and politicians intersecting with researchers and theoreticians. Along the way, accepted wisdoms on a host of issues in disability and international development are enriched and problematized. The volume explores what life for disabled people in low and middle income countries tells us about subjects such as identity and intersectionality, labour and the global market, family life and intimate relationships, migration, climate change, access to the digital world, participation in sport and the performing arts, and much else.
