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SOCIAL WORK IN CANADA
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An Introduction
Third Edition
Chapter 15: Social Work with Persons with Disabilities
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
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Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
 Who Are People with Disabilities?
 History and Services for People with Disabilities
 Approaches to Disability: The Medical & Social
Models
 The Independent Living Movement
 The Stigma of Disability
 Income Security Programs
 Disability and Social Work Practice
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Who Are People with Disabilities?
Disability
Persons with disabilities are those who reported
difficulties with daily living activities or who indicated
that a physical or mental condition or health problem
reduced the type or amount of activities they could do.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
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Who Are People with Disabilities?
 It is estimated that 4.4 million Canadians have a
disability
 Approximately one out of every seven people in
Canada has a disability
 There are approximately 600 million people
worldwide with disabilities
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
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Who Are People with Disabilities?
Children with Disabilities
 Over 200,000 children reported having a disability
 Chronic health conditions, developmental delays,
learning disabilities
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
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Who Are People with Disabilities?
Adults with Disabilities
 Over 631,000 adults reported having a disability
 Pain, mobility, and agility were most common
 Also include impaired hearing, vision, speech
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
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History of Services
 No universal support care programs for people with
disabilities were established at Confederation (and none
exist in Canada to this day)
 Outdoor relief (begging) was a common form of assistance
 The Poor Laws gave persons with disabilities the license to
beg
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
History of Services
Institutionalization (mid-19th century)
 Outdoor relief came to be seen as a mechanism that
created dependency
 Asylums, poor houses, and houses of industry replaced
the former methods of outdoor relief
 Persons with disabilities were to be removed from society,
isolated, and placed in segregated institutions
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
History of Services
Rehabilitation Services (post-WWII)
 Establishment of the “welfare state”
 Disability benefits were established for a wide spectrum of
people with disabilities
 Onset of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team
 Establishment of special schools, training programs,
sheltered workshops, summer camps, and recreational
programs
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Approaches to Disability
Medical Model
Views disability as an unfortunate life event where some
form of professional or medical assistance is required.
Involves the following assumptions:
 An individual or family member moves sequentially through
coping stages
 There is one path through the sequence
 An individual can be placed clearly in one stage or another
 There is an optional length of time for staying in each stage
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Approaches to Disability
Political Rights Model
Primarily concerned with broader social and political
change, contending that a comprehensive
understanding of disability can only occur through
examination of the social and political inequality that
exists between disabled people and people without
disabilities.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
The Independent Living Movement (ILM)
The Independent Living Movement (ILM)
Encourages and helps persons with disabilities achieve
self-direction over the personal and community services
needed to attain their own independent living.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
The Independent Living Movement (ILM)
Three major events in 1981 central to
development of the ILM in Canada:
 The United Nations declaration of the International Year of
Disabled Persons
 The Canadian government’s release of its Obstacles report
concerning disability
 The personal contribution of one of its founding members
to the independent living philosophy
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
The Stigma of Disability
There are various types of prejudice towards people
with disabilities:
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Disabled people are undesirable and unlovable
People with disabilities should always be grieving
People with disabilities are psychologically damaged
Person deserved disability because of sinful activity
Being around disabled people is uncomfortable
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
The Stigma of Disability
Ableism
Discrimination and prejudice based on physical and
mental ability towards people with disabilities supporting
the belief that people without disabilities are superior to
people with disabilities.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Income Security Programs
Publicly funded disability programs
Covered by federal, provincial, and municipal legislation
and funded through government taxation.
These programs include the Canada Pension Plan
Disability Pension, the Family Benefits plan, and the
General Welfare Assistance plan.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Income Security Programs
Privately funded disability programs
Include programs that are provided through private
insurance plans or through long-term disability plans as
part of job benefits.
These private income security programs are based on
the amount of funding that the recipient has contributed
directly to the plan, or funding that has been contributed
to a plan on behalf of the recipient.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Income Security Programs
Gaining Access to Services
1. Eligibility determination by physician
2. Investigation of assets
3. Needs test
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Income Security Programs
Canada Pension Plan
Eligibility based on the following criteria:
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A physician must determine eligibility
Benefits are granted only to individuals who have either
contributed during two of the last three years or five of
the last ten years
Pension benefits consist of a flat rate plus earnings equal
to 75% of the normal retirement pension entitlement
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Disability and Social Work Practice
Family Systems Theory
Families operate as social systems or interrelated
networks in which an impact on one component has
significant consequences for all others in the system.
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Disability and Social Work Practice
There are some basic guidelines for working with
families of newly disabled persons:
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Emotional coping and functioning skills
Family’s post-trauma functioning
Person’s status within the family
Stage in the life cycle of the family
Understanding the nature and extent of the disability
Importance of facilitating access to resources
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Websites
 Human Resources and Social Development Canada
www.hrsdc.gc.ca
 Council of Canadians with Disabilities
www.ccdonline.ca
 Disabled Women’s Network Ontario
http://dawn.thot.net/
 Canadian Association for Community Living
www.cacl.ca
 MOUTH magazine
www.mouthmag.com
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Questions for Discussion
Think about a situation where you witnessed or
experienced ableism. What are some ways that
you could address ableism in that context from
a political rights model perspective?
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Questions for Discussion
How are disability benefits provided? What are
some challenges for people with disabilities in
accessing social and income security
programs?
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Questions for Discussion
Name three disabilities that you would define as
“visible.” Name three disabilities that you would
define as “invisible.”
What are the implications of any differences you
find between the two?
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Questions for Discussion
How might your understanding of disability
intersect with a client’s perspective on
disability?
What might that intersection look like if the
client’s country of origin is different from yours?
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------
Questions for Discussion
What are some of the societal implications of
the high proportion of children with chronic
health conditions?
Chapter 15:
Social Work With Persons With Disabilities
Social Work In Canada
Copyright © 2010 Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.