Routledge Disability Definitions, Diagnoses, and Practice Implications: An Introduction for Counselors

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. Review "Dr. Smart, like all of her other scholarly contributions on disability, has once again written an outstanding book for new and advanced social science students and practicing counselors about working with people with disabilities. This book ties together so many loose ends other similar books do not cover. She explains what disability is for the many professionals who remain unsure and explains various diagnoses using the ICF and DSM-V contemporary classifications. She blends current ethical, legal, and practice guidelines for counselors that crosses practice disciplines in excellent fashion. Finally, she interweaves personal account excerpts across various counseling disciplines, noting attitudes, empathy, societal injustice issues and gender identity concerns, which are exemplary and contemporary matters. This is a must-read for undergraduate and graduate students alike across disciplines." Irmo Marini, PhD, CRC, CLCP, FVE, certified rehabilitation counselor, certified life care planner, Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley "Dr. Smart is, indeed, a disability scholar. The strength of this book is the thorough discussion of the impact that societal attitudes and perceptions have on IWDs. This work integrates various models of research, technological, and medical advances that positively transform the quality of life for IWDs. It comprehensibly defines and interprets complex laws, policies, movements, and disability classification systems that govern programs, services, and systems for IWDs. Dr. Smart’s passion for the multicultural nature of humanity drives this work."Mark A. Stebnicki, PhD, LPC, CRC, CCM, DCMHS, Professor, Coordinator of Military and Trauma Counseling Program, Department of Addictions & Rehabilitation, East Carolina University About the Author 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