Can You Hear Me? The Legal and Ethical Role of Accessibility in Anti-Oppressive and Neurodivergent-Affirming Teletherapy

2 CE Credit Hours. Legal-Ethical. Continuing Education Session Replay

Presented By: Emily Decker, MS, LPC, NCC

Course Description

Educational Objectives

Identify main legal and ethical guidelines that apply to the provision of
teletherapy
Explain connections between access, oppression, and harm to marginalized
communities
Identify common accessibility needs around several common client and
clinician disability identities

Syllabus

1. Survey: Teletherapy, Disability, and Accessibility Experiences
2. Defining Key Terms
a. Disability
i. legal vs. social definitions of disability
ii. Definitions by disabled people
b. Accessibility
c. Teletherapy
3. Overview of Related Ethical Duties
a. ACA Code of Ethics
i. Accessibility in digital communication and websites
ii. Modification of assessment administration for accessibility
iii. Provision of interpretation services
b. Disability-Related Counseling Competencies
i. Section A: Understanding and Accommodating the Disability
Experience, which encourages inclusion, as well as viewing
disability as diversity, demonstrating respect, and understanding
experiences of oppression and stigma;
ii. Section B: Advocacy for [People with Disabilities] and Support of
their Self-Advocacy, which encourages exactly what is described
in the section title;
iii. Section C: The Counseling Process and Relationship, which
outline the need for accommodations and accessibility, caution
against overgeneralization and stereotyping, and ensure
treatment matches the client’s needs and capacities,
iv. Section D: Testing and Assessment, which calls on counselors to
understand the ways in which assessment and testing is rooted
in ableism, ensure tools are appropriately normed for the client’s
population (i.e. disability), account for the impact of context and
environment on results, and provide reasonable accommodation
during the assessment process.

v. Section E: Working With or Supervising [People with Disabilities]

in School Employment, Community, and Clinical Settings, which
encourages identifying inappropriate or stigmatizing language
and practices, understanding systemic oppression, recognizing
the rights of disabled people, understand major legal concepts
and civil rights laws regarding disabled people, strive to
implement universal design standards, engage in mentorship,
and seek consultation to avoid abuse of privilege and power.
4. Overview of Related Legal Duties
a. ADA
i. Title I: Employment (15+ employees)
1. Discrimination:
2. Hiring, advancement, compensation, training, benefits,
privileges, terms & conditions
a. Including due to need for accommodations
3. Segregating/classifying employee resulting in opportunity
loss
4. Using standards that perpetuate discrimination
a. Including selecting/administering qualifications
tests in ways that don’t accurately reflect disabled
employee’s skills
5. Not making reasonable accommodations
6. Working with an organization that does any of the above
to an employee
7. Requiring abilities unrelated to job functions
a. Ex: requiring therapists to be able to walk 10 feet
unassisted
8. Requiring medical examinations unrelated to job duties
ii. Title II (State and Local Gov’t) & III (Businesses Open to Public)
1. Equal opportunity to benefit from all programs, services,
and activities
2. Meet physical ADA accessibility requirements
3. Modify business policies & procedures for reasonable
accommodation
4. Allow access to service animals and mobility devices
5. Take steps to communicate effectively with people w/
vision, speech, and hearing limitations
iii. Section 508 :
1. Requires all websites and electronic materials to be
accessible to people with disabilities
b. HIPAA
i. Security in communication
1. Applies to accessibility features like captions, too
5. Compliance vs. Accessibility
a. Identifying and challenging norms vs rules for teletherapy
b. Applying social justice and anti-oppressive principles to disability and
accessibility

6. Teletherapy Considerations for Various Disabilities
a. Neurodivergence
b. Trauma
c. Chronic pain and chronic illness
d. Sensory disabilities
7. AI: Helping or Hurting Accessibility?
a. Overview of potential benefits for AI use
b. Overview of potential costs for AI use
c. Applying ethical principles to weigh these considerations
8. Practical Steps to Increase Accessibility
a. Script for broaching accessibility with clients
b. Resources for auditing accessibility
c. Overview of disability-affirming practices (handout)
d. Additional resources around integrating disability justice principles into
therapy spaces and exploring disability as a multicultural identity

References

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Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA] of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336, 104 Stat. 328.
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Andrews, E. E. (2020). Disability as diversity: Developing cultural competence.
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Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2023, May 15). Disability Impacts All of Us
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2 CE Credit Hours.

$49.00

Presented/Developed By

Emily Decker, MS, LPC, NCC (she/they) is a doctoral candidate in counseling education at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., as well as a 2023 NBCC Minority Doctoral Fellow. She has a Master’s degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from Portland State University. She specializes in disability cultural competence and disability identity. Her passion for “going directly to the need” has led her to work in schools, emergency rooms, crisis centers, housing transition programs, skill rehabilitation programs, community mental health agencies, and everywhere in between. In her Oregon-based private practice, Emily is a pioneer of accessibility, and has been providing disability-affirming therapy since 2016, and teletherapy since 2018. Emily also provides disability-affirming clinical supervision to pre-licensed counselors and consultation services to mental health practices and education settings seeking to enhance the accessibility of their services and increase cultural competence around disability. Emily identifies as a white, queer, fat, neurodivergent, immunocompromised, disabled human.

Program Notices

Accuracy, Utility, and Risks Statement:

This training discusses strategies for compliance with some federal laws, including
the ADA and HIPAA. While the presenter has worked to assemble information from a
variety of vetted and valid resources, the presenter is not an attorney. Further,
clarifications and modifications around these laws, and many other laws and
statutes pertaining to disability, continue to emerge. Additionally, this presentation does not address state- or profession-specific laws and statutes that may apply.

Misapplication of the material in this presentation, or errors in the materials, may
result in noncompliance with applicable laws and ethics.

Conflicts of Interest: None stated or known.

Commercial Support: None.

This course is subject to our cancellation/refund policy and complaint policy.