The purpose of this article was to provide a comprehensive overview of the available peer-reviewed and gray literature on assistive technology (AT) access and usage barriers among African Americans with disabilities. Authors completed a historical review (Onwuegbuzie & Frels, 2016) of the extant literature on AT and disability public policy mandates by framing the context on AT access and usage disparities among African Americans with disabilities and discussing AT impacts on employment for African Americans. The authors also presented recommendations that might be considered by the field for increasing AT access and usage among African Americans with disabilities. It is clear that AT and associated assistive products are important commodities to the lives of individuals with disabilities in the United States; however, there are historical inequities between African Americans and Whites. As a result of these findings, the authors implore rehabilitation counselors in education and practice to further examine ways to alleviate the AT access and usage gaps for African Americans with disabilities within public policy, vocational rehabilitation service delivery, and institutional infrastructure systems.

Unemployment is common for persons with disabilities but little is known about the different reasons why people with disabilities may not be seeking employment. This study identified the reasons that people living with disabilities report for not seeking employment, from the 2015 Kessler Foundation National Employment and Disability Survey (KFNEDS) and variation of reasons by demographic, socioeconomic, and disability characteristics. We conducted a content analysis of responses to an open-ended question on the KFNEDS. The analytic sample ( n = 1,254) included adults (ages 18–64) living with disabilities, who self-identified as either unemployed or not seeking employment. Team coding used a hybrid inductive/deductive approach to identify nine meaningful reasons why people with disabilities may not seek employment. Overall, medical conditions, functional limitations, or their disability were more likely to be reported as reasons for not seeking work, rather than situational reasons associated with workplace engagement, such as “lack of job opportunities.” Bivariate comparisons of codes across demographic, socioeconomic, and disability characteristics noted variability in reasons reported by respondents by sex, race/ethnicity, age, household income, and disability. These findings provide an understanding of diverse reasons for not seeking employment, which can inform programs and policies that promote labor force participation of people with disabilities.

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PurposeThis article provided a comprehensive overview of the available peer-reviewed and grey literature on the current status of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and small African American-owned technology firms participation in the federal assistive technology research and development (AT-R&D) enterprise.Method Authors completed a historical review of the existing literature on HBCUs' participation in STEM academic pathways to AT-R&D; the contextual framework for HBCUs federal R&D barriers; STEM pathways to small African American Technology Entrepreneurship; and small African American-owned technology firms AT-R&D participation barriers.ResultsOverall, the review illuminated participation barriers experienced; exacerbated in part by narrow STEM pathways designed to help African American students successfully matriculate in related disciplines, institutional systematic barriers, a lack of funding priorities within federal research agencies, and the oversight of African American entrepreneurs in AT.ConclusionsThe authors presented recommendations that might be useful for developing proactive academic pipelines to AT-R&D. The literature review is among the first to examine HBCUs' participation in STEM pathways to federally-funded AT-R&D.

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