Social Work Internship Blog

On March 23rd, I went with Kyle to meet with a client for an admission meeting and assessment with J.Y.W.  I was able to process the experience with Grace later. J.Y.W.'s father met with us at a Zippy's in Honolulu. J.Y.W. is a recently graduated young man diagnosed with autism. He goes to Secoh and Bayada is being contracted to provide a behavioral plan for him at his day placement. I felt anxious about the experience. Much of this was self-inflicted. I put pressure on myself that I had to do it right, perhaps because it is similar to my position with early intervention. Mr. W is a Korean immigrant. He has a very strong accent. Despite my mom being a first generation Chinese woman who also has an accent, I do not alter my speech because I have concerns that she cannot understand me. However, with Mr. W, I was doing this. I was either speaking slowly and enunciating each word, or I was speaking loudly as though he had auditory challenges. This compounded the stress! Gra...

On March 22, 2018, I attended a hearing for House Committee Resolution 157 regarding informed consent for immunization adverse reaction events in Hawaii. However, the public was informed upon arrival that HCR 157 would be replaced with HR 107, a resolution created at the last minute with Representative Tupola and Dr. Park from the Department of Health. The resolution would " Encourage The Department Of Health To Maintain Communications With The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention In Ongoing Efforts To Better Understand And Monitor The Immunization And Vaccination Of Children In Hawaii And Ensure Their Safety." Many attended the hearing to provide testimony for the original bill HCR 157, which in effect was now dead. Representative Tupola noted that there was so much opposition to the resolution that there was no way it was going to survive. So, as a last ditch effort to save some part of the resolution, she joined with DoH Dr. Park.  Those who testified noted that ...

As part of my Human Diversity class, I was able to participate in several of the tests for Project Implicit, which tests for hidden biases through as series of online activities. The results of these tests found the following: I had a slight positive bias toward people in same sex couples. I had a slight positive bias toward people with disabilities. There was no detectable bias toward people of Middle Eastern ethnicity and nor those who were not of Middle Eastern ethnicity. There was no detectable bias toward people as a result of skin color. There was slight detectable bias against in favor of traditional gender roles. To be honest, I was appalled that I felt positively biased in favor of traditional gender roles. I would like to think that I have progressive views regarding gender roles. I did, however, grow up in a home with traditional gender roles. Throughout my children's childhoods, I participated in traditional gender roles- staying home and caring for them an...

Recently I was tasked with entering information about our clients into a database, Therap. One of the questions raised was regarding Advanced Directives, and whether the client had one. Most of our clients do not have Advanced Directives. However, there was one situation in which the client did have a Do Not Resuscitate order. Although I don't have a particular value regarding DNRs, I have to admit this made me feel a bit conflicted. The person is a young man who is not his own guardian. So, he would have to have the legal paperwork signed by the person legally responsible for making such choices and signing for them. I do not cast judgment on the guardian for doing so. I do not know the complete history of the situation, nor have I ever been in a situation in which I have had to make such decisions for my own child. The client is a young man who suffers from health issues in which this choice would more than likely be necessary in the coming year. However, my dilemma is whether or...

What potential social work dilemmas exist in habilitation? One of the biggest ethical issues that might occur is not respecting the dignity and worth of the person. In working with individuals with intellectual challenges, those who have not worked in the field may have preconceived ideas about the abilities of a person we serve. Without realizing it, we may make decisions without consulting the person we are making them about! When I started my internship, Grace (my field supervisor) gave me a journal article titled    Balancing the right to habilitation with the right to personal liberties: the rights of people with developmental disabilities to eat too many doughnuts and take a nap (Bannerman, Sheldon, Shermak, and Harchik, 1990). This was an eye opening article about what a great responsibility habilitation professionals have in honoring the choices of our clients. We're often the choosers of goals and activities, the makers of schedules. How do we balance the right of our...

In order to fulfill the requirements of competency 2.1 on the learning contract. I opted to find a peer reviewed research article that discussed "the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels." I chose Klotz's (2004) article Sociocultural study of intellectual disability: moving beyond labelling and social constructionist perspectives. This was a highly interesting article about how our labels and social constructionist perspectives. affect our treatment of those with intellectual disabilities and our interactions with them. The article began with Robert Edgerton's studies in the 1960s. In his study of mildly ID individuals in and out of institutionalized settings, Edgerton concluded that they were unable to live in situations deemed "normal" and "acceptable as an argument against deinstitutionalizing them (Klotz, 2004, p. 95). However he did attest that the great amount of lite...