Abstract

Social workers are invested in understanding and critically evaluating personal narratives to realize individual and social change. This paper offers an overview of ways that social work has been diminished by neglecting its humanistic origins. Reading narrative fiction, particularly novels may inform professional practice as demonstrated by a critical analysis of selected novels and policy discourses over the course of Ontario’s "Institutional Cycle", which commenced in 1839 with the erection of upper Canada’s first lunatic asylum, and concluding in 2009 when the last provincial institution for the care of people with developmental disabilities was dismantled. The findings of this research demonstrate locations where the construction of disability in novels and in policy texts complement or contradict each other and further, how a disconnect between cultural and political discourse may be perceived in the uncertain success of the dismantlement of Ontario’s institutional system. The findings from this research suggest that novels and other literary narratives may enhance program and policy planning for diverse populations and a wide range of social welfare issues.