Building areer PATHS - Article Example

Review of the Article by The article “Building Career PATHS (Postschool Achievement through Higher Skills) for Young Women WithDisabilities” is created in collaboration of four experienced authors. Lauren Lindstrom, Bonnie Doren, Cindy Post, and Allison Lombardi have made a substantial amount of work to explore the topic of female disability in modern society and attract attention to women discrimination on the job market. The article states that young women with disabilities regardless of the type are less likely to find a job after high school graduation compared to their male peers.

They also have more chances to receive a part-time job instead of stable job and receive lower salary. The authors of the article tried to assess the reasons of such situation. Lower aspirations of the parents or over controlling and caring relatives apart from disability may provoke lower self-esteem and lack of self-advocacy skills in girls. They are also more likely to suffer from sexual harassment and disability discrimination on the work place. In order to increase the opportunities of work placement among women with disabilities PATHS (Post school Achievement through Higher Skills) was created.

A special curriculum was elaborated and implemented for the girls from 9th to 12th grade. The method consists of four modules which are designed to fill the gap in certain spheres of knowledge for the girls. The first module which is called self-awareness is aimed to help the girls realize personal strengths and weaknesses and build efficient communicative and decision-making skills. Disability module helps students to explore social barriers, variations of disabilities, and effective disability management.

Moreover, it provides students with necessary legal and medical information. Gender module teaches future women about gender roles and expectations and probable problems connected with gender peculiarities. It helps women to create right image of relationships between men and women. The last module which is called career module helps women with disabilities to plan their future career basing on the knowledge received in the course of the first three modules. This module provides girls with practical skills of CV composition or communication on the interview.

In the course of the research program 25 young women were involved with the help of school administrations and support teachers. Students were not chosen randomly, they were directed specifically by school counselor teachers. The article states that overall, young women who participated in the PATHS curriculum showed significant gains in vocational skills self-efficacy, social efficacy, awareness of disability and gender issues, and bonding with the PATHS teacher. The results of the program were testified by the focus groups which showed that the young women had substantial increase in self-awareness and had more effective understanding of career opportunities.

They also were more adequate in describing their strengths and applying them in career. Another evidence of the success of the program was career goals change for certain girls. The authors also marked that there were certain limitations in the study, such as the type of disability (learning disability) and the size of the groups. It is possible to explore the topic involving young women with different disabilities and forming larger classes. Nevertheless, small sizes of the classes had their advances, such as sincere atmosphere and support.

In my opinion, the article gives persuasive data regarding the program and the authors have proved that teaching girls with disabilities about self-awareness, gender roles, and career opportunities bring fruitful results for their future. The study was well documented and well described by the authors.