Chapter 11 Chapter Overview & Learning Objectives

Disability and Social Work Practice 

Chapter Summary

This chapter introduces students to some of the dominant theoretical and conceptual understandings of disabilities and illustrates how divergent ways of conceptualizing disability impact policy development and service provision. Students are provided with myriad examples from Canada and the World Health Organization to illustrate how differing definitions and categorizations impact access to financial support, prevalence reports, and individual experiences of living with a disability.

The chapter also provides students with a historical overview of changes in societal beliefs about disability and the resulting shifts in health and social service provision. Three pivotal movements in the history of disability services—institutionalization, deinstitutionalization, and Independent Living—are outlined. The relationship between these movements and the dominant policies and practices in Canada during each time period are described in detail.

This chapter concludes by offering students an overview of the varying roles social workers can play when working with persons with disabilities and their families. Included in this overview is a description of the Canadian health and social service system as it relates to persons with disabilities, key issues typically faced by persons with disabilities over the life course, and a series of practice principles that are applicable to all social work roles and contexts within this field of practice.

Learning Objectives

The goal of this chapter is to do the following:

  1. Understand how theoretical frameworks inform disability-focused social work practice.
  2. Understand how disability emerges through the interaction between bodily impairment and the environment.
  3. Identify complex social, economic, and physical barriers to the inclusion of persons with disabilities from historical and contemporary perspectives.
  4. Recognize how policies influence the delivery of health and social services to individuals with disabilities and their families.
  5. Identify the links among theory, research, policy, and practice and apply these links to addressing issues facing individuals with disabilities.
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