
Mercedes ZapataUniversity of California, Berkeley | UCB · Berkeley School of Education
Mercedes Zapata
PhD
About
14
Publications
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Citations
Introduction
Mercedes Zapata is a California licensed psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist in San Francisco Unified School District who provides counseling, psycho-educational assessment, and mental health consultation services. Mercedes is interested in exploring and developing disability-affirmative practices, disability awareness and advocacy, and disability humility within the school setting and related contexts.
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (14)
Personal disability identity is a predictor of psychosocial functioning among adults with predominantly physical disabilities. In the present study, we examined personal disability identity in adults with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In samples of 541 adults with LD, 475 with ADHD, and 433 with...
Purpose/objective:
Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to disability self-concept and includes various attitudes toward disability. In this study, we examined whether the PDI attitudes of disability self-worth and personal meaning were predictors of psychosocial functioning.
Method/design:
Using hierarchical regression to control for socio...
Adolescence is a formative time in the development of self-concept, and negative self-concept predicts internalizing symptoms in later adulthood. This study examined the association between high school experiences and internalizing symptoms among emerging and early adults with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disord...
Background: Disability identity refers to self-concept as a person with a disability and includes such attitudes as disability affirmation and acceptance. Disability identity is emerging in psychological literature as a predictor of life adjustment among people with disabilities. Objective: This study examined predictors of disability identity and...
Objective
Visual impairment (VI) has been associated with depression and anxiety. Although researchers have identified several relevant individual differences associated with risk for depression and anxiety, researchers have not considered the role of personal disability identity (PDI) in depression and anxiety for people with VI. The purpose of th...
Objective:
Group disability identity (GDI) refers to feelings of connection to the disability community. Researchers have proposed that disability identity protects against disability-related stressors. However, few empirical studies have examined this hypothesis, and psychological research is needed that examines the role of GDI in mental health...
Introduction: Research is beginning to support the association between positive disability identity and well-being among individuals with disabilities, including those with visual impairments (i.e., blindness and low vision). To enhance practitioner understanding of how to support individuals with visual impairments, research is needed to examine h...
Research is beginning to indicate that positive disability identity is associated with positive psychosocial outcomes among people with disabilities. Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to self-concept as a person with a disability. Two studies were conducted to examine (a) the psychometric properties of new PDI subscales and (b) the associat...
Empirical research on psychosocial correlates of employment among adults with visual impairment or blindness (VI) is limited, and previous studies involving psychological constructs have reported generally nonsignificant or mixed findings. Considering persistent disparities in employment outcomes faced by people with VI, further investigation is ne...
Purpose/objective:
Positive disability identity has been proposed as a protective factor against disability-related stressors. Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to positive self-concept as a person with a disability. The most widely used measure of PDI captures disability affirmation and disability acceptance (Hahn & Belt, 2004). The curre...
Introduction
In this study, the author examined the association between general self-efficacy (GSE) and employment status in working-age adults with retinitis pigmentosa (RP; N = 183). The author further examined the associations between employment status and factors that were previously found to be linked to employment outcomes in individuals with...
Purpose/objective:
Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to a positive self-concept as a person with a disability. This study examined the reliability and structural validity of scores on the Personal Disability Identity Scale (PDIS; Hahn & Belt, 2004) and correlates of PDI in adults with retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Research Method/Design: Two...