Ditching the ‘dis’ in disability: Supervising students who have a disability

Abstract

Many ‘helping’ professions, such as Social Work, require students to perform a number of fieldwork placements to obtain their formal qualifications. The challenge for these students is to make the transition from theory to practice and from an academic environment to a work environment. These challenges are often magnified for students who have a disability with evidence that problems with training and practice placements are commonplace (Baron et al. 1996). These students may have to make physical and emotional/psychological adjustments to the environment of the fieldwork placement in order to gain maximum benefit. This paper examines the planning and implementation of a social work fieldwork placement for a student with a disability from the perspective of four major groups: the student with the disability, the social work supervisor, the educational institution and the agency/organisation offering the placement. Practical information, including a checklist and a case example, are provided to demonstrate the issues facing the above groups.