Bob,
I'll respond to your second point first. You're absolutely correct and this
has always been the case. It was true 54 years ago when I graduated from
social work school and it continued to be true throughout my working life.
Even so, social work was one of the professions to which blind people were
directed by rehab counselors. Social work was divided into practise areas
and some of them were a bit more welcoming to visually impaired and blind
social workers than others. For example, it was somewhat easier to become a
medical social worker than a psychiatric social worker. Also, here in the
New York metro area, Catholic Charities was more likely to hire blind social
workers than other sighted agencies. Of course, most of us were encouraged
to work for agencies for the blind. Years after I had my graduate degree, I
wanted to enter a psychotherapy training program as many social workers in
New York did. I was consistently refused with the excuse that you cited,
that I wouldn't be able to see the facial expressions and body language of
patients. Interestingly, there was a period in the late 90's when social
workers were doing counseling by phone and email and not seeing people's
body language apparently was no longer an issue.
As for your point about travel: The Industrial Home For The Blind, now Helen
Keller Services, covered Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.
Blind rehab teachers and social workers were expected to visit the clients
who lived in Brooklyn and Queens because public transportation is available
in those counties, although actually, it is not available in outer Queens.
But sighted people had to work in the other counties where public
transportation is inadequate. The Lighthouse used to provide drivers for
blind rehab cteachers which I thought was much more efficient, but which I H
B people scoffed at. But many social work jobs, at least when I was working,
involved seeing people in offices. There was counseling that was done in
family service agencies and psychiatric clinics, and social work in
hospitals, psychiatric settings, nursing homes, and V A facilities. None of
those involved traveling. Now-a-days? I have no idea what anyone is doing.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 2:45 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: interesting article by blind photographer
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
