Social Work: How it Aligns with Neurodiversity Affirming Practice
Many of the core values of Social Work align closely with Neurodiversity Affirming Practice. This is not to say that all social workers will be intrinsically neurodiversity affirming, but it is often less of a shift for a social worker to transition to neurodiversity affirming practice than other disciplines that often place a great emphasis on the medical model of disability.
A clear example of this is one of the main social work theories, Systems Theory and how closely this resembles the neurodiversity affirming belief that it is the environment that needs to change, not the individual. Systems theory considers the individual’s social environment including family, school, work, and government to understand how these complex systems contribute to an individual’s mental health and well-being. This supports clinicians to understand both positive and negative influences an individual experiences within their environment and then consider alternative approaches.
Along with Social Work theory, the Australian and international values and ethics of the Social Work profession also correspond nicely with the Neurodiversity Affirming Practice: Core Principles proposed by Sonny Jane Wise. This suggests that while there is always new information for any clinician to learn when they move into a new area of practice it is likely to be social workers that lead the way. Within social work, client self-determination and considering the impact of systems on the client have always been core to clinical interventions.
