Rehabilitation Counseling Considerations for People With Lifestyle-Related Disabilities Such as Diabetes Mellitus, Heart Disease, and Asthma: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Abstract

BackgroundMany emerging disabilities that affect today's rehabilitation consumers are linked to lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, smoking, substance use, and obesity. Lifestyle-related disabilities have dramatically increased in incidence and prevalence over the past two decades. Rehabilitation counselors play an important role in addressing the unique challenges and opportunities that face people with emerging lifestyle-related disabilities.ObjectiveThe goals of this article are to (a) examine lifestyle factors that have changed the constellation of the American and global disability communities over the past 20–30 years; (b) examine the health, psychosocial, and vocational implications of several emerging lifestyle-related disabilities; and (c) describe the changing role of rehabilitation counselors in addressing the growing needs of consumers with these disabilities.MethodA review of the literature on lifestyle-related disabilities and rehabilitation implications indicated new service delivery considerations for working with this growing clientele.ResultsDiabetes mellitus, asthma, heart disease, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), emphysema, stroke, and certain types of cancer were found to be among the most significant emerging lifestyle-related disabilities. New interventions are required to meet the rehabilitation needs of this growing clientele.ConclusionsThe increased presence of lifestyle-related disabilities has numerous implications for rehabilitation practice that are discussed in this article.