This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by BELLINI, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Equity and the Order of Selection Mandate

Critical Issues in Implementation and Evaluation

JAMES BELLINI is an assistant professor in the Rehabilitation Counseling Program at Syracuse University.

The order of selection mandate, the cornerstone of the federal policy initiative to serve individuals with the most severe disabilities in the state-federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) program, is examined from the perspective of equity. The order of selection mandate is founded on the fair opportunity rule, which asserts that individuals who experience the most severe disadvantages resulting from disability have the greatest claim to available agency resources. Several challenges to the appropriate implementation of the order of selection mandate are identified. Also, difficulties in evaluating equity in program participation and agency resource allocation are discussed, and two standards for evaluation, consistency, and impartiality are proposed. Then, recent research on the quality of order of selection implementation in state-federal VR is reviewed, and recommendations to facilitate the equitable implementation of the mandate and to evaluate progress in meeting the goal of serving individuals with the most severe disabilities are proposed. Most importantly, standard, quantifiable data on VR program participants' severity of disability are needed to permit warranted conclusions about equity in order of selection implementation and evaluation.

Journal of Disability Policy Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, 107-124 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/104420739800900106


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?