Hi folks
Fist off I want to congratulate John Homan on his succinct and well
articulated comment re the use of the term 'Disability Specialists'.
What I find interesting (and difficult) is the NEED for students of
various health related disciplines to have a professional title (or what
they perceive as a professional title).
Words such as therapist, professional, and specialist are very
attractive to people who want to gain specialised knowledge. There
was merry hell to pay when our School changed the name of a
course from ...........therapy to a non job-role specific name.
Students were aghast. In the job role however, our graduates would
be known mostly as ...................workers.
I do not discount however that our graduates do have expertise in
providing leisure services to people who have a disability and who
require some sort of facilitation or support to access leisure.
Graduates are expected to facilitate opportunities for leisure for
people with a disability (which often requires community education).
This idea of 'professional title' and the difference between
'professional role' is a strange one. We have to hammer it home to
students throughout the course of their study. They are generally
OK by the time they graduate. Keeping the health hierarchy out of
Health Sciences is no mean feat.
> Hi Beth and all
> It seems problematic on the face of it. I think that outsiders to
> dis studies would perceive it as someone with expertise in the
> conditions/impairments people have, rather than expertise in
> disability as we define it within dis studies. I wonder also about its
> use in describing those who "work with disabled people." What do those
> workers do? What is theri expertise? If their work is in individual
> intervention - whether educational, medical or psychological - it
> seems inaccurate to describe them as disability specialists.
> simi linton
>
> ---Beth Omansky Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi everyone!
> >
> > I would appreciate your opinion about the title of "Disability
> Specialist"
> > for people who work with disabled people. Does this title connote the
> > "expert" status we try to avoid?
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Beth
> >
> > Beth Omansky Gordon
> > The George Washington University
> > Washington, D.C., USA
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> ==
> |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
> Simi Linton
> [log in to unmask]
> 212 580 9280 (phone and fax)
> |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|
>
> _________________________________________________________
> DO YOU YAHOO!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
Best regards
Laurence Bathurst
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Sydney
P.O. Box 170
Lidcombe NSW 2141
Australia
Phone: (62 1) 9351 9509
Fax: (62 1) 9351 9166
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please visit the School's interim web site at
http://www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|