Servicemembers and veterans with disabilities: addressing unique needs through professional rehabilitation counseling

The rehabilitation counseling field has a long history of working with veterans with disabilities. This unique discipline pays special attention to person-centered client factors and encourages a long-term team effort. Another important characteristic of the field is that each client is uniquely assessed to identify strengths and not deficits. In doing so, rehabilitation counselors work with clients to set goals based on their strengths, with the ultimate goal of a high quality of life. Advocacy is an essential part of the rehabilitation counselor's job. Counselors are strongly committed to the concepts of holistic counseling, full inclusion in society and in the counseling process, and empowerment. Rehabilitation counselors place an emphasis on the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independent, integrated lives and on collaboration between counselor and client. For persons with disabilities, the journey to full community participation has been a long one that can be described as a work in progress. The movement away from the perspective of care and protection to expectation and involvement of persons with disabilities in planning for their future is reflected in the growing use of person-centered planning strategies