Social Work Practice and People Living with Disability

Disability is a deeply personal experience that means different things to different people. How disability is defined is evolving and changing. Typically understood through a biomedical lens with regard to the impact of impairments on a person’s independent life in the community; disability is broadly considered a global and universal phenomenon. This chapter examines disability at international, national and personal levels. The power of language is considered given a medicalised Global North problem-saturated grand narrative of disability has emerged. This approach is entrenched in contemporary social work practice; hence the need for critical examination and reflexivity. Potential contributions of the critical social worker will be outlined and expanded upon