Essay Sample on Ableism Manifestation in Counseling Practice

Ableism is considered to be a form of social prejudice or discrimination against disabled individuals based on beliefs and norms that usually illustrate that abilities are usually superior. Ableism is usually founded on the assumption or thought that disabled individuals usually require to be fixed. Just like it is the case for sexism and racism, ableism also usually classifies people with disabilities using misconceptions, generalizations, and harmful stereotypes (Smith et al., 2008). In most cases, ableism usually takes or occurs in different forms that include; first, failure to provide reliable accommodation to the disabled individuals. Secondly, failure to include special accessibility to the building designs. Before initiating any construction across the country, the government has to ensure that the building plan has incorporated the features that meet the needs of the disabled. For instance, every tall building exceeding six-story buildings should incorporate an elevator to facilitate the easy movement of disabled individuals (Smith et al., 2008). Thirdly, segregating disabled students in separate schools. Every individual, despite his or her disability, deserves proper care and attention without any form of exclusion, therefore separating disabled individuals from other students tends to create stigma. To eliminate this stigma, the government should ensure that all students are given equal attention and care without being segregated. Fourth, failure to adhere to the federal disability laws and regenerations. The American government has enrolled various laws that protect people with disabilities; some of these laws include, the Americans with disability act. These laws require the entire population not to discriminate or violate the disabled individual's rights. This paper intends to assess how ableism is manifested in counseling practice.

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Ableism in the Counseling Practice

The Ableism Attitudes Developed by Counselor.

When dealing with disabled clients the counselor is likely to develop a negative attitude towards the patients he or she is handling. In such a case the counselor develops the perception that the challenges that the disabled person is experiencing are out of his or her disabilities. For instance, the counselor tends to think that if the client was not disabled he or she would not have encountered the current problem. Such an attitude is very common among most counselors and it is also very hard to eliminate in the counselor's mind. In most cases, the ableism attitude is usually developed in the counselor's mind immediately when the counselor meets the clients (Sakiz et al., 2017). Counselors with this attitude also usually deny disabled individuals certain privileges. For instance, the counselor denies the client the opportunity to engage in an assessment test since he or she thinks that the disabled client is not capable enough to accomplish the test. Developing such an attitude towards the clients is likely to cause various impacts that include; first, it is likely to affect the counselor-client relationship since the disabled client will easily note that he is being discriminated due to his or her disability. Secondly, the counseling result and outcomes are likely to be affected since the intended objectives will not be achieved.

Counsellors Categorization of People into either Normal or Abnormal

In a counseling session, the counselor may decide to group the clients based on their abilities, for instance, the counselor may group the clients as normal or abnormal by recording the client's information in separate files. Categorizing the clients in this manner results to the manifestation of ableism since the counselor is perceived to be discriminating the clients based on their abilities. In most cases, categorization of clients into groups usually means that more attention will be directed toward normal clients due to their superior capabilities (Sakiz, & Sariçali, 2019). The counsellor may also decide to refer the disabled clients to another department or another counselor who has specialized in handling clients with various disabilities. In the counseling practice, all the patient usually require a similar form of attention despite their disabilities. Therefore every counselor is required to adhere to the stipulated counseling guidelines in every session.

Reducing the Client to either Impairment or Disability

When dealing with a disabled client, most of counselors usually conclude that the client’s condition is particularly caused by the respective disability. The main reason why they make such a conclusion is because they fail to consider other probable factors that might have triggered the existing problem. When handling a disabled client, the counselor should view him or her like a normal client to avoid limiting the possible diagnosis. According to research, people do not seek counseling services due to their respective disabilities and impairment instead they usually chose to do so due to the numerous aspects affecting their lives (Hodge, 2013). Such as family conflicts, personal traumas and other personal obstacles. In a counseling session, the counselor is required to first listen to the client's point of view and then analyze the client's conditions with all the probable diagnoses. If the client's condition and symptoms do not match any of the existing diagnosis, the counselor then now focus on the client's impairment. In most cases, the counselors who usually reduce the client to their disability without making other considerations tend to make the clients feel discriminated and unsatisfied with the kind of services that they receive.

How to Overcome Ableism in the Counseling Practice

Training the Counselors

Training the counsellors is perceived to the most effective method of preventing ableism in the counselling practice. The federal government can achieve this strategy by introducing a training program and ensuring that all the counsellors have enrolled in the program. This program should educate the counsellors on the various ways in which they can introduce ableism in the practice and how well they can avoid manifesting ableism in the counselling practice. The training programs should educate the counsellors using real-life scenarios to ensure that they understand how they are expected to handle the disabled and delicate individuals.

Introducing New Regulations and Guidelines

The federal government should be on the frontline of ensuring that there are no cases of ableism in the counselling practice. This can be achieved through the introduction of new policies and laws that control and guide the counselling practice. The introduction of this policies will ensure that the counsellors are adhering to the set procedures and guidelines. For instance, the counselors will have to assess all the other diagnosis factors before making any conclusion based on the client’s disability

Conclusion.

Ableism is perceived to be a form of discrimination against disabled individuals, particularly in counseling practice. Ableism usually manifests itself in the counseling practice through various ways that include, fits, through the attitudes developed by the counselor. Secondly, Counselors Categorization of people into either normal or abnormal. Thirdly, reducing the client to either impairment or disability. The manifestation of ableism can be avoided using various strategies that include, training the counselors and introducing new policies and regulations.

References

Hodge, N. (2013). Counseling, autism and the problem of empathy. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 41(2), 105-116. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/6138/1/hodge_-_Counselling_autism_and_the_problem_of_empathy_-_post-print.pdf

Sakiz, H., & Sariçali, M. (2019). Paradigmatic challenges in school counseling: Correlates and reflections on practice. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 29(1), 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2018.23

Sakiz, H., Saricali, M., & Türküm, A. S. (2017). Does disability matter in counseling? Views of counselors with visual disabilities and their clients. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 1-14. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03069885.2017.1393496

Smith, L., Foley, P. F., & Chaney, M. P. (2008). Addressing classism, ableism, and heterosexism in counselor education. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(3), 303-309. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00513.x