Affiliations: California State University, Fresno, California
Note: [] The author gratefully acknowledges Larry Mars, Senior Statistician, Rehabilitation Services Administration, for his assistance in providing the data used in the study and shown in the tables presented in this article.
Abstract: This study presents exploratory, descriptive data from the Rehabilitation Services Administration for fiscal year 1989 for the purpose of identifying and exploring the experience of people of Hispanic origin with disabilities in state1ederal vocational rehabilitation service delivery systems in the United States and its territories. Included is a demographic description of the Hispanic population, a review of the rehabilitation literature on racial/ethnic groups with emphasis on Hispanics, and information on estimates of disability prevalence among people of Hispanic origin. This study identifies and describes selected characteristics of Hispanics who applied for and/or participated in the vocational rehabilitation system. A “Hispanic origin” region was identified that accounted for 89% of the rehabilitation data on Hispanics. This region consisted of nine states (i. e., California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, and Colorado) and the island of Puerto Rico. It was estimated that there could conceivably be over two million Hispanic-origin people with disabilities in the United States. However, in fiscal year 1989, the state1ederal rehabilitation system rehabilitated only 17,454 Hispanic-origin people. This study raises the following questions: How can the system reach the potential pool of Hispanic-origin people with disabilities who require services? What services will they require? What factors predict successful or unsuccessful rehabilitation of those Hispanic-origin people with disabilities who do reach the system? The need for further research is emphasized and recommended.
