Description
Book SynopsisClinicians outside of rehabilitation psychology do not receive training on how to work with clients with disabilities. Nonetheless, given that people with disabilities comprise over 15% of the population, virtually all clinicians will have clients with disabilities in their practice. Without education or training in disability, clinicians are prone to make errors in estimating the role of disability in the presenting problems and the case formulation. Disability-Affirmative Therapy (D-AT) helps clinicians put the disability of a client into proper focus, without making one of the usual mistakes associated with cross-cultural therapy: overinflating the role of the disability, or underestimating its profound effects. D-AT provides a template for evaluation - nine areas to be discussed with the client - that allows understanding of the client''s lifetime experiences with disability. The template is not a theory of therapy, but an overlay onto the therapist''s own approach, thus having bro
Table of Contents1. Rationale for Disability-Affirmative Therapy and Definitions 2. What Do We Know about Outpatient Psychotherapy with Persons with Disabilities? (Qualitative and Quantitative Studies) 3. Sample Case: "Sam" 4. D-AT I: Current Disability Status - Disability sequelae and their management 5. D-AT II: Developmental History - disability, medical, educational, and advocacy experiences 6. D-AT III: Models of Disability 7. D-AT IV: Context and Intersectionality -- Interplay of Disability with Other Demographic Variables (gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status) 8. D-AT V: Disability Culture and Community 9. D-AT VI: Microaggressions -- Experiences and Effects 10. D-AT VII: Friendships and Social Interactions 11. D-AT VIII: Affective Prescriptions and Prohibitions Imposed on People with Disabilities 12. D-AT IX: Families and Intimate Relationships 13. D-AT Applied to the Case of "Sam"
