Week 9 Post

I would first like to take the time to discuss the partner activity we completed in class last week. While an extension of previously read material, this activity allowed for hands-on exploration of the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) and O*NET Online. In addition, it enabled us to apply the material located from these sources to an actual case study. It is one thing to simply the read the material in the text, but the ability to utilize and apply these career resources to cases we may very well have in the future is extremely beneficial. Becoming familiar with online resources and knowing how to locate codes for various occupations will make it that much easier for our work with future clients.

In regard to Chapter 6, I found it interesting that Brown (2012) classified women who wish to enter the workforce or who are now in the workforce as a group with special needs. I still have an extremely hard time wrapping my head about why women continue to make much less than their male counterparts while performing the same work. With women spending much less time at home than in the past, I’m not sure how much longer child-rearing can be used as a justifiable reason for this inequality. Additionally, I despise that the general population continues to view individuals with disabilities as having some sort of deficit. As Brown (2012) pointed out, individuals with disabilities have a restriction of ability that prevents them from functioning normally. Representing the second largest group of clients with disabilities, I found it astonishing that nearly 85 percent of individuals with mental illness are unemployed (Brown, 2012). As was the case with the example of Charlene presented in the text, individuals with mental illness often experience repeated failures and lower occupational status than their non-disabled counterparts (Brown, 2012). Unfortunately, I am not sure how accommodating employers would be to the needs of these individuals. I think many employers may see mental illness as something that can be controlled or that should be prevented from interfering in the workplace; however, this is obviously not the case. In light of the current economy, I do feel as though the number of displaced and economically disadvantaged workers will continue to rise; however, additional training and/or education is often required before these individuals are able to return back to work. It is my hope that career counselor invest more energy and time on career services designed for the workers that have been identified as individuals with special needs.

References

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.