CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Vocational rehabilitation seeks to restore individuals with disabilities to their optimal, physical, mental, social, vocational, and economic ability. These individuals with disabilities include persons with visual impairment. Visual impairment has a devastating effect with deep emotional and economic complications. The loss of vision after an illness or trauma causes major changes in lifestyle, habits which may results to problems in psychological adjustment. Persons with visual impairment exhibit different range of emotional and physical complications. They feel compromised, victim of some sort of evil, they exhibit stereotypical behaviours such as anxiety, depression or excessive thought they may suffer from repudiation, umbrage, inferiority complex, anxiety, similar psychological problems because of their incapacity in comparison to healthy people, or they may also have feelings of low self-esteem face difficulty in social interactions or making contacts and thus prefer to live in isolation (Bhagotra, Sharma, Raina, 2008). Often than usual, they are subjected to marginalization by the society which greatly affects their personality development.

One of the primary goals of vocational rehabilitation is integration which is aimed at helping persons with visual impairment gain remunerative employment, Self-efficacy and self-esteem which builds their personality and facilitates their integration in the society (Murugami, 2010). The programmes offered by vocational rehabilitation centers are generally very individualized and goal-oriented. They offer programmes such as; vocational guidance, vocational training, restoring mobility, basic literacy and numeracy skills, job placement services, employment services and follow-up (International Labour organization, 2008).

Vocational rehabilitation trainers work with persons who are visually impaired to bring out their vocational skills in order to make them to be self-reliant which is an important aspect of personality (Munyi, 2007). The Cameroon Labour law section 174 emphasizes on vocational training, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. These personal skills acquired enable persons with visual impairment to earn a living thereby boosting their personality.

Developing the personality of persons with visual impairment is challenging as it requires the collaborative participation of the society, the rehabilitation center, the family and the individual who is visually impaired. This study therefore seeks to examine if there is a correlate between vocational rehabilitation and personality development of persons with visual impairment in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

This chapter consists of the background to the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, hypotheses of the study, justification of the study, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definitions of terms.

1.1 Background to the Study

Historically, the roots of vocational rehabilitation can be traced in America in the 19th century. It began by the wide spread of disability-specific workshops in the early 19th century. The first of these was the Perkins Institute incorporated in Boston in the year 1829 to train blind individuals for manufacturing jobs. Efforts such as this were few and far between. However, until turn-of-the-century Progressivism strengthened and Social justice became a key concern of the Progressive political movement and many forward-looking vocational rehabilitation organizations were established during the era. Some programmes such as Goodwill Industries, the Salvation Army, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Jewish Vocational Service Agencies, evolved under the sponsorship of religious organization institutions that were founded or influenced by reformers of the era such as Thomas Gallaudet, Dorethea Dix, Samuel Gridley Howell, and Washington Gladden (Oberman, 1965; Rubin & Roessler, 2001). Others such as the groundbreaking Sunbeam Circle in Cleveland, Ohio, the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults in Elyria, Ohio and the Red Cross Institution for Crippled and Disabled Men in New York City were the result of private altruism. All these programmes have since expanded nationwide to assist and provide services for persons with disabilities (Obermann, 1965).

The peak of vocational rehabilitation arose after World War I when the influx of disabled veterans from overseas battlefields proved too much for private institutions to bear. There were philosophical and practical motives for inauguration of the public programme of vocational rehabilitation. Soldiers had fulfilled their obligation to the country and the nation owed its disabled veterans the opportunity to return to work and productivity. In addition, the realization of the retaining needs of the dislocated industrial workers required improved vocational training. In this pre-welfare era, private social support was simply not sufficient to support the millions of potential dependents. Eliot and leung (2005), reiterated that these factors compelled the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 which created the Federal Board for Vocational Education of Veterans.The Soldier Rehabilitation Act of 1918 expanded Smith-Hughes to provide vocational training to disabled veterans. Ratification of the Vocational Rehabilitation (Smith-Fess) Act two years later extended services to disabled civilian. Vocational rehabilitation marked a significant landmark in the thirties with the passage of Social Security Act in 1935 which facilitated the establishment of the first permanent base for the federal programme (Obernmann, 1980).

These various pieces of legislation set up a federal/state cooperative whose budget was evenly shared. States that wanted to participate submitted a plan of action for federal approval and reported annually to the Federal Board for Vocational Education. The state agencies were prohibited from using funds for buildings, equipment, or physical restoration. A network of federal, state, and private agencies evolved through the passage of over a dozen pieces of legislation throughout the ensuing decades. These laws expanded the definition of eligibility and increased the amount of expenditures towards the program. By 1923, 36 states participated in the $1.3 million programme. The role of the federal government was to set administrative procedures and techniques, provide funding, and promote the programme. The responsibility for actual programming fell to the states. In practice, state agencies usually evaluated client eligibility and potential for rehabilitation, provided counseling, and managed job placement. State agencies often contracted with private organizations for medical treatment, physical rehabilitation, and occupational training. In Bitter text ‘’Introduction to Rehabilitation’’. He characterized the public-private vocational rehabilitation partnership as perhaps the most successful human service programme in the United States (Bitter, 1979).

The public vocational rehabilitation programme grew dramatically during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. Federal expenditures increased from $23 million in 1954 to $600 million by 1970. Funding for buildings, maintenance, and research was permitted, and definitions of eligibility were expanded during the period to include those developmentally disabled by epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and other neurological impairments.

Vocational rehabilitation came to the attention of the business community during the 1970s, when state governments, led by California, began to make it a mandatory part of the resolution of workers’ compensation cases. A concurrent nationwide study of on-the-job injuries emphasized the failures of workers’ compensation programmes and spurred public and union pressure to make vocational rehabilitation part of disability management programmes across America (Madeja, 1992). Predictably, many employers resented and resisted vocational rehabilitation as yet another expensive bureaucracy. By the late 1980s, some states including Georgia, Minnesota, and New Mexico repealed the requirement. But two circumstances soon converged to make vocational rehabilitation more viable in the eyes of business leaders.

Theoretically, Vygotsky theory of social constructivism (1978) is valuable to this study in that, Vygotsky believed that learning takes place within the Zone of Proximal Development as the area of exploitation for which the learner is cognitively prepared but requires social interaction by a more knowledgeable person to fully develop. In relation to the study, Vocational guidance and counseling services involves an interaction between the counsellor and the person who is visually impaired. These services are offered in vocational rehabilitation centers to orient and advise persons with visual impairment to make better vocational choices and to be able to overcome their psychosocial challenges. Through the ongoing interactions with the counsellor, persons with visual impairment become more knowledgeable and are capable to detect alternative solutions to problems and live fulfilled lives.

Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs theory (1943) is relevant to this work in the sense that,  for the personality of persons with visual impairment to develop they must first of all acquire basic needs which are skills such as braille reading and writing, Orientation and mobility which  will permit them to be autonomous and independent .This is evident as he represented a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom and used the terms “physiological”, “safety”, “belonging and love”, “esteem”, “self-actualization”, and “self-transcendence” to describe the pattern through which human motivations generally move. Therefore, for persons with visual impairment to get to attain the sixth level or stage which is self-actualization, they must meet the basic or physiological need which is braille reading and writing, Orientation and mobility skills at the bottom before moving to the highest need (self-actualization) for their personality to develop.

John Holland’s Theory of vocational personalities and work environment (1997) is of great importance to this work because he maintains that, the type of vocational training done by persons with visual impairment in vocational rehabilitation centers will depend on the type of personality they will develop. He further outlines six personality types which persons with visual impairment can fit into as a result of the different vocations they have chosen. The personality types are: Realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. He also maintains that, the interaction of an individual in his or her environment is a major determinant of his development. This implies that when persons with visual impairment are rehabilitated in vocational centers and are train in different vocations, they enjoy working with each other, enjoy expressing their skills, abilities attitudes and values while taking on enjoyable problems and roles. As such, learning becomes effective and their self-esteem and satisfaction develops.

Contextually, Yuh and Shey (2008) explain that, the origin of vocational rehabilitation in Cameroon can be traced in the creation of Community Based Organizations like churches and charitable organizations. These organizations taught and empowered skills to persons with various forms of disabilities. With the exception of the State-owned Rehabilitation Institution for the Blind (RIB) Buea, the other existing vocational centers for the Blind in Kom, Muyuka and the Christo Delphian Institute for the blind in Mbengwi were all community-based initiatives. Today, there has been the passage of a series of laws such as international labour law of 2008, law No 2018/010 of July 2018 governing vocational rehabilitation in Cameroon, Cameroon labour code of 1992 section 175, which clearly outline and lay down the general legal framework as well as basic guidelines for vocational training in Cameroon. These different vocational rehabilitation centers in Cameroon work hand in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of health and Ministry of social affairs to provide relevant services such as guidance and counselling services, braille reading and writing, orientation and mobility and vocational training to persons with visual impairment.  But regardless the availability of these services in vocational centers in Cameroon, persons with visual impairment still suffer from psychosocial problems like isolation, frustration, resentment, depression as a regard there exist   a gap of whether vocational rehabilitation has a relationship with the personality development of persons with visual impairment.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Vocational rehabilitation provides relevant psycho social and educational services to persons with visual impairment such as vocational guidance and counseling, restoring mobility, basic literacy and numeracy skills, vocational training, job placement services, employment services and follow-up. But despite the different services that exist, persons with visual impairment still over depend on their parents and families for livelihood. They are always isolated and avoid socializing for fear of being misunderstood by others, they are often frustrated and are clouded with the feeling of resentment because of their disability and they also sometimes suffer from depression which turns to affect their thought, behaviour and feelings towards themselves and others. This does not only affect them directly but also affects their families and the entire society who see them as burdens. Due to the aforementioned problem, the government and other lay private institutions have tried to remedy the situation by opening vocational rehabilitation centers who train and offer services in vocational guidance, vocational counseling, vocational placement, personal skills training and post-employment services for persons with visual impairment to enable them to be independent and autonomous. Notwithstanding the effort of the government and lay private institutions in opening vocational centers, persons with visual impairment still suffer from wrong career choices, low self-concept, poor social skills, lack of self-confidence and above all high rates of unemployment. As a consequence of these skills lacking in the lives of persons with visual impairment based on literature and observation in the field, this has aroused the interest of the researcher to investigate whether there is a relationship between vocational rehabilitation and personality development of persons with visual impairment in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1.3.1 General Research Objective

To investigate if there is any correlate between vocational rehabilitation and personality development of persons with visual impairment in the NorthWest and South West Regions of Cameroon.

1.3.2 Specific Research Objectives

Specifically, four objectives were formulated for this study:

1. To evaluate the relationship between vocational guidance and counseling on the personality development of persons with visual impairment.
2. To assess the relationship between Orientation and mobility on the personality development of persons with visual impairment.
3. To investigate the relationship between braille reading and writing skills on the personality development of persons with visual impairment.
4. To examine the relationship between vocational training on the personality development of persons with visual impairment