Valuing the insider-professional perspective of disability: A call for rehabilitation psychologists to support disabled psychologists and trainees across the profession

Abstract

Purpose/objective: In this commentary, I call for rehabilitation psychologists to support and advocate for trainees and psychologists with disabilities across the profession as an extension of the foundational principles of the study.

Research method/design: I reviewed the literature on psychologists and psychology trainees with disabilities, as well as the foundational principles of rehabilitation psychology.

Results: A growing body of literature documents both the presence of psychologists and psychology trainees with disabilities and the barriers that they often encounter in the field. One of the foundational principles of rehabilitation psychology and the acknowledgment of the insider-outsider perspective of disability, which holds that disabled individuals, by nature of their lived experience, have unique perspectives on disability that enrich our overall understanding of it.

Conclusion/implications: Through their combination of lived experience and professional expertise, disabled psychologists and trainees bring a critical insider-professional perspective to the field, both inside and outside of rehabilitation psychology. It is both important and in line with our foundational principles that rehabilitation psychologists advocate for psychologists and trainees with disabilities in all settings, so that their important insider-professional perspective on disability can continue to advance the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).