Rehabilitation Counseling

Rehabilitation counseling as a specialty area of counseling has been at the forefront of advocating for disability rights and the employment, inclusion, and integration of individuals with disabilities. The ethical and professional practice of rehabilitation counseling is similar to other counselors, yet with additional ethical responsibilities and considerations related to disability rights. The ethics of rehabilitation counseling have a more explicit emphasis on client autonomy, advocacy, and accessibility. The chapter describes the specialty of rehabilitation counseling, the historic trends in its evolution, and the sociopolitical issues of importance to the field. It helps the readers differentiate the roles and functions of rehabilitation counselors from those of other counseling specialties. The chapter discusses multiculturalism and diversity in rehabilitation counseling. Rehabilitation counseling has had a complex evolution. With such a diverse scope of practice, it is imperative that rehabilitation counselors only practice within their individual training, education, and supervised experience.