The following is a project I completed during my college career, pertaining to Stress management and prevention. I found holistic approaches to dealing with stress, with the target population being people with disabilities. Though we all face stressors in this life, some people face their own stressors. That is why we must always remain kind to our acquaintances, since we don’t necessarily understand what they may be going through. All we have to do is do a little bit of our own research on how to cope with stress, with physical activity being the leading ailment. I hope you enjoy this article.
One thing in this world that we all experience at some point in our lives, is stress. Some people more than others, but we all will go through it, and some of us are able to manage our stress a little bit better than others. According to Seaward, stress is the perception of a threat (real or imagined) to one’s physical, mental, or spiritual well-being resulting in a series of physiological reactions and adaptations (Seaward, 2017). The target population that I will focus on, is people with disabilities. Whether physical, emotional, mental, or any other type of hinderance they may have that will make it harder for them to qualify for a job. This could be from past mistakes, where they were convicted of a felony or some other past mistake. Not being able to obtain a better paying job, could stress them out from not being able to pay bills, or provide for their families. I believe that we can make it possible for people with disabilities to get past their stressors in life, that hinders them from interacting with others, or being able to get a good paying job. If we implement a plan at the state or federal level, we could help these people obtain schooling, or vocational requirements for better jobs that they may not qualify for in the first place. As a member of the Governors State Rehabilitation Counsel (SRC), I will do what I can to help provide for these individuals through the department of vocational rehabilitation (DVR).
There are going to be a conglomerated number of stressors that people with disabilities will face in their life, and it will all be broken down into separate disabilities that they may have. If they received a physical disability from an accident or fighting for our country, then it may be difficult for them to complete manual tasks. This could create stressors in a variety of different ways through the thought of not being able to keep their family safe from danger. As a man, I know that if I was hindered from protecting my children in anyway, I would stress out about everything. Going places we’ve never been before, certain areas in cities, or even in the possibility of a home invasion. Not being able to stand up for their defenseless souls would make it to where I would stress out about where we would go, in all ways.
Next on the physical disabilities, another stressor would be not being able to provide for their families. The most employed industries in the state of Wyoming are all manual labor employers. This would make it to where they wouldn’t be able to lift heavy objects above 50 pounds, making it impossible to get any job along those lines. Some of the other jobs that they could potentially get that would give them a good enough income, would most likely need more of an education. That is where The State Rehabilitation Counsel comes in, where the individual could receive some sort of state funding to acquire the education that they would need. Whether it is an associate degree, or some sort of vocational training that they need, we can help them get the grants they need to pay for their schooling.
If a person is paralyzed from the waist down, they would need to rely on a wheelchair to get them around. In which most houses, or buildings aren’t accommodated for wheelchair access. This would make it hard for them to work anywhere else, except from home. Of course, there are some exceptional people that have adapted to their injuries and created something huge. But most are confined to their homes, which could create a stressor in itself. Not being able to leave home could give them cabin fever and even prolong a level of depression that would make it even harder to progress with tasks. I couldn’t even fathom the pain and suffering they would be condemned to, through actual pain, and mental instabilities.
In other cases, there could be someone that is hearing impaired, resulting in them not being able to hear details of tasks. Not being able to hear what they would need to do at their job, or just life in general, could create a stressor to no end. I couldn’t even imagine what that person would go through, since I am able to hear. However, I would feel like their balance could be off since that is a contributor to our equilibrium. Also, with driving, they wouldn’t be able to observe their surroundings creating a stressful environment almost all day every day. The closest people to them would of course be able to communicate with them, but not everybody understands sign language, thus making it impossible for them to communicate with others.
Now with someone that can hear, but can’t speak, that is another story. Of course, they would have the communication hinderance that they would need to go about daily life. Whether in the workplace, or just simply going about their duties, it would be stressful to communicate. Communication is key, and one of the biggest aspects of communication is comprehension and understanding. Without that in either party, it could be stressful, or frustration could arise in between the two. Not being able to tell someone what your implications are for a better understanding, could create stressors within frustration. It all depends on how calm the person could remain, and potentially be able to write something to someone else on a piece of paper. In which could take quite some time, and most people would look at that as an inconvenience.
Now the combination of the two, but the person is blind, not being able to see any of their surroundings. They might be intelligent, since they don’t have to see the negatives of this world that are going on and aren’t tempted by exotic desires. However, they wouldn’t be able to navigate through this world without some sort of crutch, or someone to guide them. If they were in their own home, where they have everything memorized, then they could get around that way. Furthermore, not being able to see what they are doing, they most likely couldn’t get employed doing hands on jobs, or even typing ones. That is also where SRC and DVR could come in to assist them in finding them the right employment to pay their bills.
Another stressor that this population could face is within their mental health. According to Rethink Statistics, approximately 1 in 5 adults-or 43.8 million adults suffer from some sort of mental disability (Rethink, n.d.). This is an astronomical number that no body thinks about when they are walking by people on the streets or stores. Having any mental disability will make it hard to acquire a job within almost any field. Some of the more severe mental disabilities are those of people that have some sort of autism. Of course, they wouldn’t be required to work, but the possibility is always still there. If they were to age, and get a family of their own, how could they provide for them if they couldn’t do things like math, or logical thinking to get the job. SRC will assist in that as well.
Some more mental disabilities would be things like Anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, or any mental illness that can inhibit them from progressing through life. I personally suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression and though some days are better than others, some days are rough. I have found that on the bad days, I must try harder to push forward and complete the tasks at hand. Either way, some people’s depression is so strong, that they don’t even want to get out of bed in the mornings, while others anxiety can inhibit them from even going out to see other people. Not being able to have a social life can begin to stress people out, since we have those tribal instincts of community within our DNA.
Post Traumatic Stress disorder could make it to where people won’t be able to drive anywhere if they had been in a traumatic experience involving a vehicle. Whether their truck got blown up in war, or they were in a bad accident, they wouldn’t want to get into a vehicle. Thus, hindering them from being able to travel around easily and always having to rely on other people to get them around. This can cause stress because they couldn’t make it to appointments or even other life expectations within a timely manner. Having to rely on other people to get you somewhere could be a stressor, since most people have their own lives to deal with.
According to a study, people with disabilities are more prone to be affected by stress-related illnesses, such as obesity, cardiovascular problems, cancers, and diabetes (Rhode, et.al., 2012). With these illnesses looming above them, with them already being disabled, cold create more stress within itself. It would be like a revolving cycle. Being disabled can cause stress within itself, which then can cause other disabilities from stress. Attempting to process that as a disable person would make it hard to even continue through normal day life. Thinking about how no matter what they do, their disability could cause them more problems down the road if it persists. It would sort of make them feel like there is no reason to continue which is why an estimated amount of 18-22 veterans die from suicide every day (Rethink n.d.).
These stressors are important to consider for this population for the reasons stated earlier. They already have some sort of disability that they have either had their entire life or succumbed to some accident or exposure to chemicals. Within their already exciting disabilities, others could arise from them which could be life threatening. Living an already sedentary lifestyle from the inability to get up and exercise could create even more health problems for them. No body thinks about how many benefits physical activity can have on a person unless they are doing it already. Someone that is in the first stages of the change model, doesn’t even acknowledge the importance of exercising at least every other day. Now combine that with a person with disabilities and they can contract all sorts of auto-immune disorders, or something more severe that could danger their lives (Rhode, et.al., 2012).
Some stress reduction/management programs that people could do are mindfulness practices, self-evaluation, and more natural means through holistic approaches. Mindfulness is a single word, but it has so many different meanings to it. There are practices like meditation and yoga that a person with disabilities could perform. The importance of mindfulness practices is to calm the mind, heart, and soul through deep breathing exercises and calm mind evaluation. Being able to focus on the breath and meditate on things that are going on in their lives could result in them having more of a clarity of life. With mental clarity, they can move right into the next stress management practice, self-evaluation.
Self-evaluation is being able to look more inward of yourself, and processing how you feel and determine irrational thoughts. Sometimes we allow external stimuli to affect our internal perceptions of ourselves. So, a person with some sort of disability, could think really low of themselves since they aren’t like every other person. They watch professional sports players do the things they do, and they could wish that they could even do half of that. Or if they became disabled due to a tragic event, they would feel remorse because they couldn’t do the things they use to. Processing that, and thinking more inward through self-evaluation, they could find something to create from the nothing that they think they have. They could evaluate if their thoughts are too irrational, and if they were overthinking something that was more minimal than anything. Through both practices, they could find a common ground, and push through their emotions and maybe even create something of themselves.
Holistic healing approaches are beginning to make a come back in our society now days. Most of them have stemmed from centuries ago within in old traditional Chinese medicines, Ayurvedic medicines, or other old school natural means of healing. Of course, most of these practices incorporate meditation and self-evaluation into it, but there are other qualities of it. Things like Reiki and other energy aligning practices have proven to help people with mental instabilities such as anxiety, depression, P.T.S.D., aches and pains, as well as lack of quality sleep. Reiki is an alternative therapy that is commonly referred to as energy healing which arose in the late 1800’s from Japan, where the practitioner attempts to channel the patients energy through their palms, to align their Chakras (Newman, 2017). It is told that are bodies have chakras, which are different points of our body that can sometimes get out of line. Through stressful events, or lack of mindfulness practices, these can get all out of whack, creating more stress within ourselves. Energy healing practices are there for us, to get our chakras aligned so that we can reach our Chi, or a level of enlightenment/calmness.
I would implement these practices through the teaching of meditation and recommend gyms that provide yoga classes. Of course, some yoga classes are physically demanding, but there are modalities that can be done to incorporate every person signing up. I would also refer them to reflexology centers that offer all sorts of alternative, and integrative practices that are more focused on the individuals well-being, and sanity. On top of that, I would teach them self-evaluation techniques that they could do daily. If they are hindered from receiving employments, I would ask them to apply for services within the Department of Rehabilitation Center and The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.
One of the main obstacles I would face for this population would be that they don’t want any help. We can’t help someone if they have no desire to change. They would rather stay in the revolving cycle that they have been in forever. But explaining to them the benefits of these practices could potentially convince them to begin working on themselves. Other obstacles could be their loved ones not wanting anyone else to try and take care of them. Some members of heir family have been their caregivers since day one, so the thought of someone else attempting to help them could make it hard to do.
One type of health professional that could implement this program, would be someone that has practiced Reiki, or other energy healing practices. There is another practice called Reflexology, where they perform acupressure on different points of the feet to obtain natural healing. Another health professional could be a physiatrist or therapist. These practices really penetrate deep into the mind in order to find the root cause of their mental instabilities and could potentially assist them in coping better with their problems. Whether they prescribe them medication, or they want to take a more alternative route. Maybe they could even do some integrative practices, such as taking the medication, and practice more mindfulness practices to reach a common ground.
They would measure their progress from their intake with a psychiatrist of therapist, to their progression through their time seeing them. Most people could see advancements in their mental health within a couple weeks, but in order to maintain that progress, they would need to continue seeing their psychiatrist. It also could be measured by their health and wellness. Things such as their cardiovascular system could begin to be at a maintained level and blood pressure could drop. Also, their levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone would be diminished greatly. Their productivity could also prove that they are beginning to have less levels of stress, since they aren’t isolating themselves indoors. Having a higher level of productivity could prove that they are facing their fears and getting out there to create their own level of happiness.
In conclusion, this world is full of stressors, and within the disability population, these stressors could have more of an impact on them. It is all about how well we can face these stressors and/or cope with them. Life isn’t about the 10% of situations we are in, its about the 90% of how we react to them. If we live our lives with a more open mind and acquire the ability to understand other points of view, a lot of the stressors could have no affect on us. Also ensuring that whoever we are talking to understands our implications in interactions, we could diminish disputes between both parties. On top of all that, doing some sort of physical activity could prevent our minds from becoming stresses over little aspects of life. All in all, we all are faced with stressors each day, we must find some sort of stress prevention/management program that works for us. Just because one works for someone, doesn’t mean it is going to work for you, so we must find out what our minds grasp better than other practices.
-Cyral I. Callender III
References
Rethink: Mental Health. (n.d.). Mental Health Statistics. Retrieved (Feb. 6, 2021) from: https://www.rethinkstigma.org/50facts.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmfmABhCHARIsACwPRAB9Kc9Rl2XLK_13cw2svha8Lzyen7QXXxPfD-EYplGv6ZffIvGyH5MaAr8AEALw_wcB
Rhode, P. C., Froehlich-Grobe, K., Hockemeyer, J. R., Carlson, J. A., & Lee, J. (2012). Assessing stress in disability: developing and piloting the Disability Related Stress Scale. Disability and health journal, 5(3), 168–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2012.03.002
Newman, Tim. (Sep. 6, 2017). Everything you Need to Know About Reiki. Retrieved (Feb. 7, 2021) from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308772
Seaward, B. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (9th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Stahl, B., & Goldstein, E. (2019). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook (2nd ed.). New Harbinger Publications.
Health and Wellness Repertoire 
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