A Counselling Framework for Understanding Individual Experiences of Socially Constructed Disability

Abstract

This paper provides a framework for rehabilitation counsellors to respond to persons with disabilities who may seek their assistance to manage the conflicts that characterise their social encounters. This framework covered issues concerning: rehabilitation program philosophy; the socially located definitions of impairment and disability; the reconciliation of paradoxical elements that exist in counselling relationships; understanding individuals' interpretations of their experiences of living with disability; Wendell's (1996) standpoint epistemology (contrasted with the social model of disability) and her questioning of commonly accepted agency/control issues. This framework is advocated by a professional rehabilitation counsellor/psychologist who acknowledges the influence of both traditional and post-modern counselling perspectives; and who favours the co-participation of persons with disabilities in the planning and implementation of rehabilitation programs.