Hi Miriam,
A couple of observations about the social work profession, at least here in
Massachusetts.
1. More and more often these days, social work jobs come with a driver's
license requirement. AS we rightly close down more institutions and those
who used to live in them now live in community and supported settings, it is
more necessary for social workers to travel to visit clients. IT is less
common today for social workers to have clients come to them or work in an
institutional setting. That, taken together with tighter budgets that allow
for the hiring of fewer and fewer accessibility drivers is a major hindrance
to the employment of blind social workers today.
2. This one may be a bit presumptuous, but my life experience informs me
that those in social work management are a lot like the medical profession.
They have particularly low opinions regarding the capabilities of blind
persons. Their attitude seems to be something like:
"how can a blind person be a good social worker if he or she cannot observe
the body language of the client." That and other similar nonsense have
limited opportunities for acquaintances of mine some of whom have MSW
degrees. Lots of hypocrisy here. Sorry to be so hard on your former
profession, but, as always, I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
Bob Hachey
