Webcast on Cultural Factors to Consider When Working with People Who are Asian or Hispanic. Presenters: Daniel Wong and Lucy Wong Hernandez. TAJAUNA: Good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to the webcast, Cultural Diversity, Serving Asian and Hispanic Consumers. My name is Tajauna Dunning, I'm with the ILRU program atTIRR. I will be moderating today's webcast and Dawn Heinsohn also with the ILRU program will be voicing your questions to the presenters. I want to encourage you to send any questions you may have during this webcast by clicking the submit question button at the bottom of your RealOne Player screen. Or simply address it to webcast@ilru.org. Questions will be posed to the presenter upon request. If for some reason time does not allow the presenter to answer all questions asked, a response will be provided to you via E-mail. Additionally, if anyone has technical difficulties today, please call us at (713)520-0232 and dial 0 for the operator. This number is both voice and TTY capable. As previously mentioned, today's webcast is on Cultural Diversity, Serving Asian and Hispanic Consumers. It is being presented by Daniel Wong and Lucy Wong Hernandez. Daniel Wong, Ph.D, is a professor and director of the doctoral program in Rehabilitation Counseling and Administration. The Department of Rehabilitation Studies School of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He has more than 18 years of experience in rehabilitation education. He has over 40 publications in journals and numerous position papers in national and international journals. He has made over 100 presentations at the national and international level. He was the editor of the Journal of Rehabilitation Administration from 1998 to 2002; the editor of Disability International from 1997 to 2001; and an associate editor for the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin from 1991 to 1994. He has also been the recipient of a number of NIDRR, RSA and SSA funded grants. Lucy Wong Hernandez is an instructor also at the Department of Rehabilitation Studies School of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She has extensive experience in the disability field as it relates to academics, disability rights advocacy, social policy and service provision for persons with disabilities. She has done extensive work in the areas of multiculturalism and disability nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards for her contributions and work related to rehabilitation and quality of life for persons with disabilities from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. And with that, Daniel and Lucy, I turn the webcast over to you. DANIEL: Thank you, Tajauna. LUCY: This is Lucy. We are happy to have this opportunity to discuss topics related to Asian and Hispanic consumers for this webcast. We want to thank everyone at ILRU for their assistance and our colleagues at Southern University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of Memphis, and Crown Point Institute of Technology in New Mexico for their furnishing with this important project. This is a very interesting topic, one that has created a lot of productive discussions as well as many controversies. We acknowledge the fact that the U.S. has become a melting pot society, by the diversity of cultures and ethnic backgrounds of its population. Due to the large numbers of culturally diverse immigrants coming to this country from different parts of the world, it is imperative to broaden our knowledge and to become more competent in reference to cultural diversity and how can we best work with multicultural populations. For obvious reasons, the topic of cultural and ethnic diversity has been a very important topic for research studies and for service providers, in particular, in the areas of social services and human services. We also acknowledge the fact that there are so many identified and unidentified cultures in the world that are becoming part of our local, national environment. And to understand and to teach cultural competence issues is a formidable and challenging task for scholars, service providers and other experts. The first thing we need to ask is, what is culture? Culture is a collective reality of a group of people, and it is from this collective reality that attitudes, behaviors and values are formed and become reinforced among a group of people. Culture is learned through socialization, through an active teaching process and culture is commonly held characteristics such as beliefs, values, customs and patterns of behaviors possessed by a group which has been learned and reinforced through a socialization process. Now, based on this definition, it is clear that culture is a learned behavior, attitudes, beliefs and values. It is learned from group interaction and it is learned via socialization through formal teaching. We also have to remember that culture is not by biologically inherited and environmental factors play an important role in our cultural development. Because of the limited time that we have today, we will use this coming hour to discuss two culture and ethnic groups that stand out in American society because of what they represent, and their fast increasing representation in our communities. They are broadly defined as Asian and Hispanic Americans. I will speak about Hispanic Americans and Daniel will speak about Asian Americans and other research issues as they relate to culture and disability expectations of services and attitudes towards disability. As we may know, the Hispanic culture encompasses more than 20 subcultures and Asian culture more than 120 subcultures. Actually, there is a close connection between Hispanic and Asian cultures. Just to name one, according to the U.S. census of 2000, 1 percent of the Asian population in the U.S. is classified as Hispanic Asian, and this is a surprising information for many people. These two groups have come to the U.S. looking for a better future for themselves and their family members. Just like many other immigrants, they have settled in this country for many years having first, second and third generations and large numbers continue to come to the U.S. each year. Let us talk about some recent demographic data and research results from particular research findings with respect to people from diverse, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Daniel, can you talk about some issues related to demographics and latest studies related to culture and ethnic diversity. DANIEL: Hi, this is Daniel Wong. Before we discuss the issue of providing services to culturally diverse people with disabilities, we need to look at the latest statistics regarding significant demographic changes of the U.S. populations. With respect to demographic change, it is projected by the year 2020, which is only 14 years away from today, 30 percent of the new workers entering into the labor force will be people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, also classified people from minority backgrounds. According to the data from the Department of Labor, there is a higher incidents of work disability among so-called minorities. 13.7 percent of African Americans and 8.2 percent of Hispanic Americans as compared to only 7.9 percent of what we call European American who acquire work-related disabilities. Unfortunately, we do not have a very reliable number on Asian Americans regarding incidents of work disabilities. Because of the increased number of these populations, which is individuals with disabilities from diverse, cultural and ethnic backgrounds who need vocational rehabilitation and other types of services have been expanding in great numbers and it is expected this change will most likely continue. Since cultural and ethnic diversity issues have been hot topics for the past years, there are many research studies conducted within different disciplines regarding these issues. One good example of a study is regarding racial bias in the area of employer bias. Many researchers believe that racial inequality as it relates to ethnic groups in the labor market continues to be a persistent problem in our country. According to a study on racial bias in hiring, published in the American Economic Review, researchers sent 5,000 resumes, responding to 13,000 help wanted ads in the cities of Boston and Chicago newspapers and found significant bias against very African American sounding names. However, very European sounding names received 50 percent more call-backs for job interviews. This racial gap is uniform across occupations and industry and there is no difference between small or large employers or to those that are listed as equal opportunity employers. This obvious racial bias affects persons from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds who are with and without disabilities. Researchers have also identified what is called counselor bias within the human service fields, such as the field in vocational rehabilitation. In regards to vocational rehabilitation bias inequitable treatment of people with disabilities from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds has always been identified as a critical issue that impedes participation in successful rehabilitation outcomes. Because of these research findings, we need to address the question of how does the Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1992 treats this issue of inequitable treatment of minority consumers with disabilities. The Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1992 stated that persons with inequitable treatment of minorities has been documented in all major junctures of the vocational rehabilitation process. When compared to European Americans, a larger percentage of African Americans to the vocational rehabilitation system are denied acceptance. This statement is crucial because it has driven specific policy changes with respect to providing more government funding support to university and other service providers serving individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds in an effort to eliminate this inequitable practice. Now we can briefly look at some other research studies. With respect to counselor bias, a study in 2000 indicated that rehabilitation counselors are susceptible to several biases in working with consumers. These are, number one, the systematic biases associated with specific variables such as gender, age, race, sexual preferences, social class and disability type. Number two, what we call overshadowing, giving undue weight on one variable, while regarding missing information. Number three, the so-called confirmatory bias, seeking confirmatory information while paying less attention to this confirmatory information even in the face of contradictory evidence. Another related study in 2004 examined students in vocational rehabilitation counseling to people with disabilities. The researchers found disability- related factors were heavily involved in the preference making process and attitude of preference information was significantly affected by other consumers, characteristics unrelated to disabilities such as education, age and ethnicity. In the same study, the researchers found for the predominantly European American female sample, preferences for people with disabilities can occur as young -- (Inaudible). European Americans were referred to Hispanics and Hispanics were preferred to African Americans. African Americans were preferred to Native Americans and Native Americans were preferred to Asian Americans. The researchers concluded that students in the study were more comfortable with consumers who were similar to their own background and less than consumers with different backgrounds. As vocational rehabilitation professional and human services providers, we have to seriously consider the consequences of racial and disability biases. Biases based on selected characteristics of consumers can influence diagnostic impressions and decisions about eligibility determinations, plan development, and service provisions for the consumers. And, two, adjustment regarding consumer potentials may determine the educational and career opportunity the consumer ultimately pursues and dramatically impacting the future direction and quality of life. And now, Lucy can give us some interesting information in regard to the Hispanic American populations. LUCY: Yes, this continues to be very, very interesting. I am always fascinated by how much we think we know about the Hispanic culture. Some of the information we have might be true, but most of the popular knowledge is based on stereotypical assumptions. And in reality, how little we know about this diversified population affects the way we interact and work together. The Hispanic American population is the fastest growing and most diverse ethnic group in the U.S. According to the latest U.S. census report of 2000, and its latest revision, there is over 12.5 percent or a population of over 30 million people in the U.S. that are classified as Hispanic or Hispanic American descendants. This is a very significant number. This indicates that the Hispanic American population has grown over seven times and as fast as the rest of the nation between 1980 and 1990. There are a few very important things we have to understand when providing services to Hispanic Americans with disabilities. First of all, Hispanic is not a racial group, it is an ethnic group. There are White, European, Black, Asian and other groups who are Hispanics. 15.3 percent have some type of a disability. They are mostly affected by what is labeled as preventible (Inaudible) of disabilities related to social issues and healthy lifestyles. The Hispanic as a group represents intercultural diversity and individuality. Sometimes we get confused with what is the correct way to identify this group. Should we call them Hispanics or Latinos? Well, it depends. Hispanics is a term more commonly used on the East Coast and Latino is a term more commonly used on the West Coast of the U.S. Hispanic or Latino populations encompasses more than 28 distinct subgroups. That identifies regions, countries, cities or villages where the people are from. The U.S. Census Bureau refers to these populations as Hispanic. That is the language that is used as well as any legal and policy documents. Hispanics speak different sounding variations of Spanish, as well as different indigenous dialects. As educators, human service professionals and service providers, it is of particular importance to respond to the needs of vocational rehabilitation and other related services needs by the Hispanic American population because of how rapid this population is growing and spreading in states and the pressing need and the pressing nature of their unique needs. According to numerous studies, Hispanic Americans with disabilities have been disempowered vocationally and have long suffered from both unemployment and underemployment opportunities and in sufficient education and vocational training. The growth of the Hispanic American population has increased the demand for services, as well as the fact that Hispanics experience a proportionately higher rate of physical and mental disabilities when compared with other ethnic groups. It is expected that the need for vocational rehabilitation, independent living services and other types of social services will continue to grow for this population because Hispanic Americans are an important component of a young population that is within the working age group of our American society. Let's look at some indicators. The median age for the Hispanic American population is 23.2 compared to other U.S. residents combined with a median age of 30. They are a very young population. Even more dramatic is to consider that one-third of all Hispanic Americans in the U.S. are under the age of 15. Given this young age group, prevailing fertility rates and strong and continuous immigration from Latin America and the Caribbean, we can safely predict the Hispanic population will continually increase at an accelerated rate especially in large population areas. Considering the size, use and incident rates of disabilities among the Hispanic American populations, it is reasonable to assume that there is a significant number of potential consumers with disabilities in need of vocational rehabilitation counseling and independent living services. According to the U.S. census of 2000, information related to Hispanic Americans with disabilities suggests the urgency with which vocational rehabilitation counselors and independent living personnel must become attuned and in touch with different populations with disabilities. We can see some interesting information when we look into ethnic disparities. For example, in a comparison of Hispanic Americans with disabilities and nondisabled Hispanic Americans, we found that a typical Hispanic origin adult with a disability is 41 years old, is married, lives in a metropolitan area, is a high school graduate, is severely disabled, does not work either full time or part time, had or has a blue collar job, had a mean income from all sources of about $11,000 in 1990. Now, looking at the typical Hispanic origin adult with no disability, this person would be 31 years old, married, lives in a metropolitan area, is a high school graduate and perhaps some college years, works full time, has a blue collar job, had a mean income from all sources of about $14,000 in 1990. The 2000 census data indicates the U.S. population currently includes 34 million African Americans which represents 12 percent of the total population. 35 million Hispanic Americans, which represents over 12 percent of the total population. 10 million Americans of Asian descent representing over 3.6 percent of the total population; and 2.5 million American Indians which represents over 0.9 of the total population. We understand that now after the last census of 2000 this number has increased in particular as it relates to the Hispanic population. This unprecedented and projected growth and the corresponding change in the racial composition of the United States will most likely continue the same pace. In reference to Hispanic subgroup cultures in the U.S, we also need to take very close attention. As I stated earlier, the Hispanic population is one of the most ethnically diversified population. Among the Hispanic American culture subgroups, there are three dominant regional subgroups, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cuban Americans. The failure to distinguish among the various subcultures of any ethnic group is referred to as racial lumping. There is a very damaging error that has to be avoided because racial lumping ignores significant, unique differences among groups and violates the individual's self-identity. The tendency to view the Hispanic population as monolithic is probably due to the fact that the Spanish language, as the mother tongue, with its own regional variation unites this population. Due to its large number in population and their well- defined cluster groups in some states, several studies have been conducted of the Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans and Cuban American populations in reference to their disability issues. However, in spite of this effort, each concerns persons with disabilities from each ethnic group has not been adequately addressed to ensure a service plan and presentation. Neither have service programs been designed in a uniform way to address their disability and services related issues. As human service professionals and service providers, we have to ask, how do cultural values relate to counseling services and counselor/consumer relationships. Many researchers and scholars have indicated that Hispanics, as an ethnic group, are different enough to sometimes require culturally relevant methods of vocational rehabilitation counseling and other related services. This approach will greatly depend on the levels of acculturization and the identity of the individual. Another important factor will be how fluent is the person in his or her native language and in English, and what language does the consumer prefer for better understanding? One important observation is that we have also found out that due to the lack of specific social services available to this population in their native countries, a significant number of Hispanic immigrants are not accustomed to -- or preferred not to seek advice or help from outside of family, doctors or clergy. Traditionally the Hispanic American nuclear family has been the only source of support and guidance in many different situations, with the extended family safety net as an additional support system. The idea of needing professional counseling or social services has a certain negative connotation not very appealing to a traditional Hispanic family. The perception of services is directly affected by their cultural values and beliefs. If the need for professional services and vocational rehabilitation counseling can be avoided, the family will do so to protect the family privacy and the consumer needs from the risk of being labeled or misinterpreted by others. It is also a matter of culture and ethnic pride. It has been suggested by many scholars that the Hispanic culture traditions of the nuclear and extended family structure active roles has a stretch resistant quality. The family serves as an emotional support system in reference to formation of coping with emotional problems, adjusting to changes and coping with disability. This argument is most common as an attempt to explain the underutilization, for example, of mental health and vocational rehabilitation and independent living services by Hispanic Americans. However, one of the possible changes that has taken place the past years is the process of cultural assimilation encountered by Hispanics in the United States. This has gradually changed their perception of seeking and accepting social services, including rehabilitation and counseling services. Hispanic families are now more willing to accept professional assistance. They do not see it as a handout as much but more as a step to make personal improvements. One important cultural factor still continues and that is that the nuclear family members is involved and wishes to be included in the decision-making process concerning any future plans and interventions involving the consumer. We see this characteristic when observing consumers with disabilities who are requesting services, how they attend the meetings or sessions with counselors and service providers with some of their family members and even a close friend or two of the family. This culture characteristic is evident because most likely everyone will have something to say with the decision that will be made by or for the consumer. The counseling relationship among counselor/consumer and the nuclear and extended family members has to be one of complete trust and clear understanding. Therefore, eliminating any language barriers and culture misunderstandings is imperative in order to establish an effective service relationship. Another important point in reference to language barriers is that when a translator is needed, it should be a professional language translator and not just any person nearby or a family's child. The reason for this, other than it is the professional and ethical thing to do, is that due to cultural factors and confidentiality, the consumer and the family member may not feel comfortable giving personal information to another stranger who is not engaged in the service delivery purpose. Now, let's look at culture and disability with respect to the perception of disabilities. Good health is in the interest of all people from all cultures, however, the ways in which various cultures review and react to disability barriers is very much related to viewing someone as a healthy person. It may be said that acceptance and perception of disability is culturally determined, thus attitudes and perceptions of Hispanic Americans towards disability are determined to some extent by the Hispanic and Hispanic subcultures. Some scholars believe that the degree of acceptance of disability among Hispanic American groups may influence an individual and his or her family in their decision to apply for services and to follow up with the services provided. This decision may subsequently enhance or retard the success of the entire rehabilitation process of the individual. I will try to explain some characteristic factors that have been identified by scholars and other professionals to be associated with the perception and coping mechanism of disability among Hispanics, including diverse nationalities and regional cultures and subgroups. Gender is very well-defined. Most Hispanic men understand their role, and they have been culturally taught that it is their responsibility to provide for their families and being strong is considered an important male achieve. Acceptance of disability may, therefore, be more difficult for a Hispanic American male than for consumers who perceive their gender roles less as stringently or more passive. Some scholars believe that Hispanics have an indifferent attitude towards services and benefits they may bring to the person in need, however, the perception of disability among Hispanics may be affected by what many researchers identify as a culturally-based attitude of resignation and acceptance of life problems. And partly due to the fact that a large percentage of them are very religious people. Another factor is this type of attitude is the sense of social belonging and for some the lack of identification with the community that perceives them as outsiders and different becomes a barrier. Many of these individuals based on their religious and spiritual factors believe that whatever happens is one's life is God's will. As a group, they may be less inclined to question or complain or strive for change than among people of other culture backgrounds. This may be attributed to the feeling of being oppressed and marginalized for many decades. In general, Hispanic American populations in our society, family oriented society, many researchers agree that Hispanic American families play important roles in their rehabilitation process and outcomes of their family members with disabilities. At times, this cultural characteristic has been viewed as overly protective and paternalistic and somehow limiting the consumer's full and active participation in social and rehabilitation services. Religious beliefs plays an important role in the definition, response and acceptance of disability for many Hispanic American consumers. In the Hispanic world view, disability is often seen as a punishment for one's sins or for the sins of one's parents, also as a cleansing stage of life. If this is the case, most likely the consumer will appear noncooperative or not interested in the outcomes of the services. It is important for vocational rehabilitation counselors and other rehabilitation professionals to understand that such a theological etiology may be ascribed to disability by many Hispanic American consumers and their family members. And now, let's look at how disability among Hispanic Americans has serious implications to employment. As indicated by recent labor statistics, Hispanics are overrepresented in physically demanding jobs that have a high risk for illnesses, disability and fatality such as rigorous farming where they are exposed to environmental hazards and pesticides. A majority of the Hispanic American adult population also have lower levels of education and employment skills training due to the urgent necessity to start working at a very early age to help the family. For many Hispanic Americans who have a disability, options for education, vocational training and employment have been very limited. Disability and all its implications are the strongest contributors to limitations to educational, vocational rehabilitation, independent living services and employment. And in most cases, as reported by the researchers, this is coupled by a low expectation of service providers and employers towards Hispanic Americans with disabilities. There are some important findings in the area of physical and mental disabilities. As indicated by various research studies, physical and mental disabilities have a high prevalence among individuals from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, in particularly Hispanic and Asian American populations. For the Hispanic American populations, physical disabilities among working age groups occurs very frequently. In most cases, due to accidents, occupational accidents and hazards, environmental contamination on the job and others due to social issues and unhealthy lifestyles. Mental disabilities and other-related psychiatric illnesses are associated with the inability to assimilate a new culture, separation from the nuclear family, the breakdown of the family structure, and the effect of unhealthy lifestyles such as alcohol and drug dependency. A recent study indicated that the mental health status of Hispanic Americans experiences a greater array of potential stress-inducing events than other populations and those have a higher risk for mental health problems. Several as effects of the transition from one society to another apparently constitutes a hazardous situation leading to increased hospitalizations and bouts of depression. Mental health issues are not acknowledged at any stage for proper intervention. Most often denied or covered up. For those who are diagnosed with mental health conditions, Hispanic American women have a higher incidents of mental health conditions such as chronic depression and based on cultural beliefs and values, they tend to keep their mental health issues and needs as a secret from the outside nuclear family. Now, Daniel will share some information about Asian Americans. DANIEL: Thanks, Lucy. According to the U.S. census of 2000, Asian refers to people having origins in any of the original people of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinents. And Asian groups are not limited to nationals, but include ethnic terms as well as monks. The census indicated among 10 million Asians in the U.S, five groups number 1 million or more. They are Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos and Korean. American Asian descent who came to the United States brought with them many cultural traditions that are still evident today. In addition, recent studies indicated many of the Asian Americans born in this country have difficulties coping with cultural conflicts. The culture conflicts basically defined by their pride and self-esteem in how to acculturate into American society. Historically, many Asian Americans believe that Asian Americans have suffered the most inhumane treatment and have been discriminated in the regular society since the 1940's. Many Asian Americans come to view their ethnicity as a handicap that they need to continue discrimination. This feeling may create various forms of racial self- hatred and consequently leads to culture conflicts and identity crises. The maturity of the Asian culture strongly advocates the virtue of sacrificing individual needs for the good of the growth and since the family is the basic unit in the society, parents have the highest authority in the family. The family as a unit and the parents place strict emphasis on obedience, proper conduct, controlled emotions, moral training, control and acceptance of family and social obligations. One who does not meet his or her share of family obligations was subjected to a significant amount of shame and guilt feelings. This cultural characteristic has direct impact on how the (Inaudible) should be paying attention to and we should discuss this issue in the later part of the discussions. This brings us to the area of euthanization of social and rehabilitation services. Studies reveal that there is an underutilization of mental health facilities and services among Asian Americans. However, many recent studies indicated that Asian Americans experience greater psychological discomfort than their Caucasian or European American counterparts. This may be due to the fact that Asian Americans stress the importance of obedience and conformity to the family and the society. Many studies in cross cultural counseling and rehabilitation counseling also found that traditional counseling approaches used by counselors in the U.S. do not work well with the Asian American consumers. The termination rate among the Asian American consumer after the first interview is much higher than the European American consumers. This may be due to the fact that most of the counseling approaches used by the rehabilitation counselors in the U.S. may be viewed as too ambiguous and somewhat wishy-washy by the Asian American consumers. Their culture emphasized functioning within well-defined and structured social relationships. Many Asian American consumers may expect the same we defined and well structured function and role in the therapeutic and counseling relationship. This is one of the most important findings that Asian Americans tend to significantly underutilize social services and often have difficulty with the therapeutic approaches. This problem may be attributed to cultural differences and the lack of training and sensitivity on the part of the social service providers to cultural differences in the counseling process. Other important factors include the process of acculturization. This factor is founded as a degree to which Asian Americans or other ethnic groups becomes identified with and integrated into the majority cultures. This is very significant due to the fact that how a given Asian American identifies himself or herself with the majority culture would have bearing on how he or she respond to different counseling, psychotherapy approaches and other social and human service programs. Another major issue related to implication of rehabilitation services and counseling services is the effect of society's attitude towards different disability and is substantiated by numerous reports that Asian Americans generally underutilize mental health services facilities. It is believed and documented that psychiatric disability are much feared by Asian Americans, in particular those with mild to moderate psychiatric disabilities. And they may not seek professional help at all for fear of stigma. Ironically, as research indicated in the past years, Asian Americans, expressly women as a group, has a higher percentage of mental illness and psychiatric disability as compared to other ethnic groups. A good example of this problem is from a recent work experience in New York City. We find there is a significant percentage of Asian Americans that would rather go to another district or other neighborhoods to apply and get human services because they were afraid that their family members or neighbors would find out their disability or so-called problems. In addition, they were also afraid the service provider they see and speak to is someone they know and this person will inform the family or friends about his or her disability or problem. Interestingly, in this kind of situation, they prefer someone from other ethnic groups as a service provider. This phenomena can also apply to the Hispanic community in which the Hispanic American would like to avoid exposing they have a disability and are requesting service from the government because of the belief of getting a handout from the government. Lucy, would you like to give us some information regarding the implication of cultural diversity in rehabilitation services? LUCY: Sure. Now, this is another section of the presentation. I think that the first thing we need to do is -- we have to look at consumers' attitudes towards rehabilitation professionals and other service providers. The consumer's cultural background and socioeconomic status will contribute greatly to his or her attitude toward rehabilitation professionals. In most cases, professionals are viewed to have some level of authority. There is also a sense of respect for the service providers or rehabilitation professionals. For some cultures, such as Hispanic and Asian, their role of rehabilitation professional is not very clear. What do they do? How are they going to help? Often, culturally the different consumers are unclear as to the purpose of counseling services and they may expect a quick solution to their problems and a direct advice as to what to do with a situation at hand. In the area of willingness to cooperate, consumers' willingness usually varies. It is usually misunderstood by the service providers who have little experience working with multicultural consumers and may not understand their responses to the process of rehabilitation. Some service providers and rehabilitation practitioners tend to view acculturization as a predictor of consumer's cooperation and success. If a consumer has a language barrier and continues to embrace the cultural characteristics much his or her home country, the client may be viewed by the service provider as being at risk of not being cooperative and not reaching the set rehabilitation goals. On the contrary, we should use the level of acculturization as a tool to understand the predicament and situation of the consumer and to determine what assessment is needed and interventions might be most appropriate for them. In the area of consumer attitudes toward male or female rehabilitation professionals is also impacted by culture and levels of acculturization. Some consumers' attitudes towards male or female service providers is an important variable for the counselor/client relationship. In most cases, it is up to the individual how comfortable he or she feels talking to the opposite sex about feelings or future plans. This issue of personal preference should be openly discussed for better service outcomes. In the area of consumer/family attitudes toward rehabilitation services, in most cases, family had a positive attitude towards rehabilitation services, just as the consumer, family members sees the rehabilitation practitioner as an authority figure and they view with very high respect. The nuclear family is a very important contributor to the counselor/consumer relationship and the rehabilitation process. Many researchers and scholars believe that the inclusion of family counseling in rehabilitation services as well as independent living services is often an integral part of the team concept in the rehabilitation profession and other fields. Rehabilitation professionals are beginning to experience an interest in evaluating the nature of the relationships of families. New approaches to working with the families are emerging. The growing trend is responsiveness to families in the vocational rehabilitation process, as well as other social services. This responsiveness should take a form that acknowledges the family's strengths, needs and complementary roles. It is in the best interest of the consumers for the rehabilitation professionals to seek the family's help and by working with the family to improve the effectiveness of the services offered. Now, in the area of willingness to follow through with a chosen rehabilitation plan, the working relationship and collaboration between the rehabilitation counselor and the client are critical to the success of the rehabilitation process. If the consumer receives the proper guidance and services, with emphasis on cultural aspects, he or she will be willing to follow through the services being provided. In this case, the client is expected to benefit greatly from rehabilitation services. And now I will give it to Daniel to give you some concluding words. DANIEL: At the very beginning of this presentation, we stated that because there are so many identified and unidentified cultures in this world, to understand and to teach cultural issues is a formidable and challenging task for scholars, service providers and other experts. We would also like to add that to be a culturally competent vocational rehabilitation counselor or service provider from other disciplines, you need to become flexible and appreciate the opportunity of working with diverse populations. This is an issue of vital importance to our respective fields. As many scholars agree, the movement of multicultural counseling and culturally sensitive services has promoted a new social movement which has social responsibilities and activism in response to the needs of societies. Because we work with people with different disabilities from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, we need to encourage vocational rehabilitation counselors and service providers to consider the harmful effects of phenomena of racism, sexism, ageism and other forms of prejudice against other people. Since there is so many to learn and consider about people's cultural characteristics and their behavior to be a culturally competent professional, it's a very tall order, but it's one that must be accomplished. We need to continue to encourage professionals to become culturally responsible and sensitive helpers to all people with disabilities by keeping an open minded policy and viewing each consumer as a unique individual who has distinctive cultural, familial, social background, we can be more effective and eliminate disparity of services. As a professional in the helping professions, we have to expect that it is our own responsibility to provide the best services possible to all people regardless of their disability types, their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Finally, we have to keep our knowledge current and our program updated to serve all people with disabilities in our communities. And thank you so much and we enjoyed the presentation and we give it back now to Tajauna. TAJAUNA: Thank you, Daniel and Lucy. That was a wonderful presentation. Thank you so much for the important information. I hope all of you listening have learned from today's webcast. I want to remind you that if any of you sent in questions during this webcast, a response will be provided to you via E- mail. Also note this webcast will be archived on ILRU's website, which you can find by visiting www.ilru.org. This webcast has been a collaboration of ILRU, with the Rehabilitation Research Institute for Underrepresented Populations, headquartered at the department of rehabilitation and disability studies of Southern University, Baton Rouge, one of the country's historically black universities. Support is received from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The opinions and views expressed are those of the presenters and no endorsement by the funding agency should be inferred. I would also like to thank the in-house staff at ILRU, who without their efforts this webcast would not be possible. They include Marj Gordon, Sharon Finney and Dawn Heinsohn, as well as the technical expertise provided by Rob Dickehuth and our realtime captioner, Marie Bryant. Again, thank you for joining us. We hope that you will join us again for the next webcast being presented this Wednesday, March 1st, at 2:00 p.m, Central Standard Time, titled Making the Job Accommodation Network Part of Your Human Resource Toolbox. Thank you everyone. We hope you enjoyed the webcast. Goodbye.