Uncovering issues of ableism in social work education: a disability needs assessment

ABSTRACT

Social work education’s commitment to teaching inclusive social work practice must not only be evidenced in the explicit curriculum and teaching methods, it must also be present in the implicit curriculum including administrative policies, student support, and resources. Yet, accessibility and climate efforts often fall short of addressing disability and ableism as barriers to education, despite the clear call for disability to be included as part of the field of social work’s commitment to social justice. A social work graduate program in the USA developed a mixed-methods disability needs assessment, completed by 586 respondents in 2016. The assessment highlighted the frequency with which students experience ableist microaggressions and lack of support they feel they have, as well as the need for a disability-focused community within the school. Results illuminated the need for education on the depth and breadth of disabilities, advocacy, principles of Universal Design for Learning, and ableist microaggressions. These findings can assist social work educators in developing tangible strategies for more inclusive social work education.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability issues
• disablism
• diversity
• equalities
• cultural competency
• social justice
• North America
• evaluation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

No research funding was awarded for this project.

Notes on contributors

Shanna K. Kattari

Shanna K. Kattari, PhD, MEd is a queer disabled researcher based at the University of Michigan in the School of Social Work and Department of Women’s Studies. Her extant research focuses on understanding how power, privilege and oppression systematically marginalize, exclude, and discriminate against people regarding their identities/expressions through negative attitudes, policies reinforcing oppression, oppressive actions and isolation. Her work centers on disability and ableism, and transgender/gender diverse identities and transphobia, using an intersectional lens.

Lisa Ingarfield

Lisa Ingarfield, PhD is an academic, researcher and writer with a doctorate in Intercultural Communication. She is also an amateur triathlete and founder of Shift Sports, a company that offers support for sports businesses and organizations who want to increase diversity and inclusivity.

Michele Hanna

Michele Hanna, PhD, MSW is an associate professor  at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and currently serves as the coordinator of the Child Welfare concentration, having taught both child welfare practice and policy courses. Her research focuses on child welfare, foster care and adoption.

Jeanette McQueen

Jeanette McQueen, MSW is a clinical associate professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and has worked in a variety of clinical settings with children, youth and families, including community-based services, residential treatment and public schools. She utilizes teaching strategies that facilitate the learning environment and build upon students' knowledge, experiences and passions.

Kate Ross

Kate Ross, MSW is an associate professor of the practice at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, where she coordinates the foundation curriculum and the advanced standing program, serves as a co-chair for GSSW's Inclusive Excellence committee, the MSW curriculum committee and is passionate about universal design for learning (UDL). She strives to model authentic holistic social work practice as an advisor, in the classroom and in the field.