Vocational rehabilitation acceptance in the USA: Controlling for education, type of major disability, severity of disability and socioeconomic status

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate whether there were differences in acceptance rates for VR services among African Americans, White Americans, Native American or Alaskan Natives, and Asian or Pacific Islanders with disabilities in the USA? Method: The study was based on a population 599 444 customers who sought VR or Bureau of Visual Service Agency services in the USA from 1 October, 1997, through 30 September, 1998. The subsample of customers with no missing values on the variables under investigation included African Americans (n = 13 287), White Americans (n = 38 048), Native American or Alaskan Natives (n = 599), and Asian or Pacific Islanders (n = 596). The chi-square test of homogeneity of proportions was the test statistic. The final random subsample included African Americans (n = 300), White Americans (n = 300) Native American or Alaskan Natives (n = 300), and Asian or Pacific Islanders (n = 300) was drawn from the population of VR customers in the USA. Results: The study supports the hypothesis that African Americans were more likely to be found ineligible for VR services, while Asian or Pacific Islanders were more likely to be accepted for VR services. Conclusion: While discovering that African Americans are more likely to be rejected for VR services was not surprising, discovering that Asians or Pacific Islanders are more likely to be accepted for VR services than African Americans was unexpected, given that past VR acceptance research adduced that White Americans, not Asian or Pacific Islanders, are more likely to be accepted for VR services when compared to African Americans with disabilities. While a preponderance of VR research indicates that White Americans are more likely to be accepted for VR services than African Americans, it was also unexpected that White Americans were not statistically significant when education, type of major disability, disability severity, and SES were controlled.