Judy MacDonald (Draft Profile)

Judy E. MacDonald has been at the School of Social Work, Dalhousie University since August 1999. Prior to coming to Dalhousie she taught at St. Thomas University from 1990 to 1999. Her social work practice experience was based in hospital social work and private practice where she focused upon palliative care, grief and bereavement, and woman abuse. Judy identifies as a woman with a (dis)Ability, having lived with chronic pain for over 25 years. A great deal of her scholarship focuses upon access and inclusion within post-secondary institutions for students with (dis)Abilities. Judy has been instrumental in crafting and promoting an Accommodation Policy for the School, and she co-chairs the Faculty of Health Professions’ Affirmative Action Committee. She has been co-chair of the CASWE Persons with Disability Caucus for a number of years, and she currently is on the Editorial Board of the Canadian Social Work Review journal. Judy teaches courses within the BSW and MSW, distance and campus programs that focus upon anti-oppressive theory and practice, health systems and health care, (dis)Ability policy and practice, and life processes. Her research methods have predominantly been qualitative, specifically narrative and autoethnography, and quantitative survey methods. Her fundamental belief is that social work education has to be accessible, whereby students with (dis)Abilities are included and welcomed.