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The purpose of this study was to assess disability identity among Spanish- and English-speaking individuals of Mexican descent. This was an online, cross-sectional study with self-report measures. One-hundred thirty-six persons of Mexican descent (i.e., first, second, and third generation) addressed three research questions: (a) What is the relationship between disability identity and specific types of disability factors? (b) Do differences in disability identities exist across gender? (c) Do differences in disability identities exist across household language use? Participants with chronic conditions, assistive devices, and mental health conditions answered no to the disability identity question. More women with chronic conditions, who used assistive devices, or with mental health conditions denied a disability identity compared with men. Individuals from Spanish-speaking households were more likely to report a mental health diagnosis and deny disability identity compared with those from English-speaking households. English-only surveys that use a single disability identity question will undercount Mexican Americans who are more comfortable with or are predominantly speaking Spanish. There are subtle changes in meaning and emphasis from English to Spanish. This may represent the need to increase cultural competence for health professionals, including the level and preference of linguistically appropriate services, and identify the need for translating materials and intervention protocols. Policies related to mental health and disability should be available in Spanish to increase information related to mental illnesses that potentially qualify as a disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disabilities often are precluded from research by accessibility problems. This article explores what it really means to make research accessible, and provides suggestions for including people with 2 types of disabilities. Eight specific research activities are explored in relation to 2 disabilities (visual impairments and deafness).

Although the field of disabilities studies incorporates psychology within its interdisciplinary purview, it embodies a distinct perspective consonant with the new paradigm of disability. Although psychology has begun embracing diversity, disability remains marginalized. Examines the foundational ideas of disability studies, training in disability within psychology, paradigms of disability reflected in research on disability, and future research directions. (Contains references.) (SM)

Interviews with 42 mothers with visual impairments found no significant relationship between the degree of impairment and amount of advance preparation for child care tasks, trial-and-error learning, or initial reactions to the pregnancy. Key concerns were children's safety, the extra time needed to accommodate the impairment, transportation, and handling reactions. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A study investigated accessibility of 177 APA-accredited clinical and counseling programs in 135 schools to applicants via TTY phone lines. Eighty-six schools could be successfully reached using a TTY alone, and most of these lines were connected to campus disabled-student services. None connected directly to the APA-accredited programs. (Author/CR)

Court decisions affecting parameters of student dismissal can be divided into academic and disciplinary cases, with slightly differing requirements for each. Survey of master's programs in clinical fields revealed 3.3 percent dismissal rate, reliance on repetition of course work and personal therapy for remediation, and some inattention to legal requirements for dismissal, notably those of due process. (Author/NB)

Graduate students in clinical psychology and other mental health fields with disabilities are disadvantaged in seeking field placement training. Barriers are both physical and attitudinal. This article addresses the nature of both types of barriers and ways that field placement supervisors can minimize both, providing equal access for students with disabilities. Recommendations related to specific disabilities are given as well as more general ones. KEYWORDS accessibility, disability, supervision DOI: 10.1080/02703140903404788

An estimated 49.7 million people in the United States live with one or more disabilities, representing nearly 20% of the 257.2 million individuals ages 5 and older in the civilian population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). Most psychologists are likely to have the opportunity to work with clients who have disabilities (R. Olkin, 2002) and need the competencies to provide ethical services to this growing proportion of the population. What constitutes ethical practice with people with disabilities? First, the ethical issues involved in providing services for people with disabilities are outlined, and 2 vignettes and a number of questions for practitioners and educators are presented. Then, 3 invited experts provide commentaries that address these issues, raise additional questions, and provide important resources. Keywords: ethics, disabilities, competencies, clinical practice

The relationship among therapeutic alliance, psychotherapy outcomes, and interpersonal problems was examined. The present study hypothesized therapeutic alliance would mediate the relationship between interpersonal functioning and outcome among patients with multiple sclerosis entering psychotherapy for depression. Nineteen clients received 16 weeks of individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression as described by D. C. Mohr, A. C. Boudewyn, D. E. Goodkin, A. Bostrom, and L. Epstein (2001). Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex (IIP-C: Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 1990), and the Working Alliance Inventory-Client Form (WAI-C: Horvath & Greenberg, 1989). The IIP-C significantly predicted Week 16 BDI and the WAI-C at 4 weeks. When controlling for the WAI-C, the relationship between the IIP-C and BDI was no longer significant, supporting the mediational hypothesis. Keywords: working alliance: interpersonal problems: multiple sclerosis; depression

Four domains of barriers for women with physical disabilities who are considering leaving a partner are outlined. These obstacles include (a) physical needs; (b) financial needs; (c) custody concerns; and (d) relationship issues. Disability policies can have direct bearing on the lives of women with disabilities, and hence on their freedom to choose to remain with or to leave a partner. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: [c] 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] KEYWORDS. Women with disabilities, partners, disability-affirmative, disability barriers

Author's Abstract:COPYRIGHT 1999 The Howarth Press, Inc. When clients have disabilities, questions arise about boundaries, advocacy, and the interface between personal and political agendas. In disability-affirmative therapy, the clinician incurs responsibilities in multiple areas: understanding the minority model and its treatment implications; valuing disability culture; awareness of the distinction between disability and impairment; facility with discussions of values and disability dialectics; ability to integrate sociopolitical forces into treatment; facility with countertransference; ability to incorporate disability into the case formulation; staying within one's area of competence; working with disability within larger systems; understanding of disability in context; and valuing disability as part of diversity training, teaching, and reasearch. Keywords: Disability, advocacy, disaiblity-affirmative therapy, minority model

This paper presents thirteen human rights of children with disabilities, and relates these to the (a) accompanying issues facing the family, and (b) resultant therapeutic tasks. Parents of children with disabilities confront many challenges in raising their children, but do so in the absence of any role models for how best to parent a child with a disability. The therapist can greatly enhance the family's capacities in such parenting, but bears a responsibility to obtain knowledge and skills in working with children with disabilities and their families. The attitude and therapeutic stance of the therapist is fundamental to this work, as is helping families to incorporate the disability into the total gestalt of the child's identity. A nonpathologizing, coping model approach to increasing resiliency is emphasized.

This study assessed reported rates of sexual liaisons between students and educators during doctoral training in clinical or counseling psychology. One thousand American Psychological Association members (600 women & 400 men) were anonymously surveyed with a mailed questionnaire; response rate was 51%. Though only 2% of the male respondents reported sexual contact with an educator, 15% of the female respondents reported having had such contact. The modal liaison was between a 40 year old, married male educator and a 30-year-old, single female student in her 2nd year of graduate training. No sexual contacts occurred in the absence of a working relationship. Respondents were, in retrospect, more likely to view the sexual relationship as coercive, ethically problematic, and a hindrance to the working relationship compared to how they viewed it at the time it occurred. The authors suggest changes in professional training and revisions to the ethics code.