The pedagogy of disability training

Training is important. But even more important is "how?" You can train a person, for instance, to repair a car, but in the process you can break down his self-confidence, his humanity, through, for example, being over-critical of him. The approach is at least as important as the substance of training. That's why there is an increasing tendency these days to emphasise "bottom-up" approaches to training rather than "top-down".

In this respect, the ILO study in Zimbabwe on Social Work and Disability has some good advice for social workers who work amongst PWDs. According to the study, social workers must have:

· an eclectic and wide knowledge base, which helps them to be effective link persons (unlike narrow specialisms such as medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, or physiotherapy);

· training in community work, which can be applied very effectively to the field of rehabilitation;

· good communication, interviewing and counselling skills, which would be helpful in negotiation, consultation, debate and democratic decision-making in general;

· training in research methodology and project development, including evaluation;

· training in administration and organisation, unlike many administrators who have been promoted from professional positions; close, direct involvement with individual and family needs, and must be aware of what these are;