Abstract

This qualitative study investigated an educational model for genetic counseling students to learn about the social, emotional and political issues of disability. The study focused generally on how training for genetic counselors can challenge stereotyped views of disabled persons, and specifically on how disability stereotyping may inform the genetic counselor's views on prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion. In the context of a master's degree program in genetic counseling, five students were each matched with a disability consultant, who was a person with a disability, familiar and conversant with the civil rights/minority view of disability. Students and disability consultants met three times for approximately one hour meetings, over the course of one semester of the master's program. During these meetings, the students practiced interviewing skills, and the disability consultants discussed a range of personal, social, and political issues related to living as a person with a disability, including their views on prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion. The students and consultants were interviewed by the researcher before and after their series of three meetings. Analysis of the interviews contrasted the "before and after" reflections of students and the consultants, revealing a significant shift after the meetings in the student's grasp of the social construction of disability, meaning a reframing of their view of disability as being informed by societal discrimination rather than personal tragedy, a stated new-found ability reported by the students to perceive disabled people as potential friends and colleagues, and a stated intention by students to utilize disabled persons as consultants in their professional work arenas. Results were inconclusive regarding the impact of the interactions on the student's attitudes about prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion. Disability consultants generally reported feeling positively after the interactions, about the potential for the field of genetic counseling to become open to input from disabled people. All ten participants reported favorable reaction to the model, highly recommending it be repeated as a regular part of genetic counseling education