The Concept of Social Work and the Concept of Handicap

Abstract

This is a book about practice, not a treatise about philosophy; but it cannot start without some discussion about attitudes and assumptions. The title brings together two terms — ‘social work’ and ‘mental handicap’ — which are wide and woolly, not only in common parlance but in the language of experts. It will not be good enough to plunge in without showing what I mean by them.