Disability Definitions, Diagnoses, and Practice Implications

This introductory text defines and describes disability, while providing concrete practice guidelines and recommendations for students in the fields of counseling, social work, and the helping professions. Various specialty areas are explored in detail, including marriage and family counseling, adolescent counseling, addictions counseling, LGBTQ concerns, multicultural counseling, and career counseling. The first three chapters lay the foundations by discussing the demand for counseling services by individuals with all types of disabilities; presenting clinical, legal, medical/biological, and personal definitions of disability; and describing physical, cognitive, and psychiatric disabilities. Next, author Julie Smart examines core beliefs about disability using a range of first-person accounts from experienced counselors. The last six chapters focus on practice guidelines for various aspects of disability-including ethical considerations, societal issues, social role demands, and individual responses-and consider new possibilities for disability counseling professions. With rich case studies woven throughout, as well as valuable information on client needs, disability categorizations, and key Models of Disability, this essential textbook will be useful not only to counseling students but also to professional counselors, social workers, and psychologists.

Julie Smart, PhD, was Professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation at Utah State University for twenty-four years. For ten years, she was the Program Director of Graduate Programs in Rehabilitation Counseling. She is also the author of Disability, Society, and the Individual

1. A New Reality for Counselors 2. Defining, Diagnosing, and Measuring Disability 3. Models of Disability: Another Way to Describe Disability 4. Six Core Beliefs About Disability of Highly Empathetic Counselors 5. Ethical Considerations and General Practice Guidelines 6. Understanding the Experience of Disability: Counseling Practice Guidelines 7. Integrating Counseling Interventions with Societal Issues 8. Understanding the Individual's Response to Disability: Counseling Practice Guidelines 9. Understanding Social Role Demands of Individuals with Disabilities: Counseling Practice Guidelines 10. Responding to some Unique Demands of Disability: Counseling Practice Guidelines 11. New Horizons for the Counseling Professions