This thesis reports on findings from a critical qualitative study exploring and challenging normative notions of what it means to be a social worker. Throughout this thesis, I investigate how practicing social workers in Alberta negotiate their personal and professional identities. Drawing on 22 transcripts from semi-structured interviews with 11 unique participants, I analyze discursive strategies that are used to define and categorize what social work is and who social workers are expected to be. Grounded in critical and anti-oppressive theories and methodologies -namely Critical Disability Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis -I critique how dominance and power are woven into narratives of identity, belonging, and pride within the interview data. In particular, I critically illustrate how being a social worker is constructed in opposition to being a client. I conclude by reflecting on what social work could become when the rigid exclusionary boundaries of the profession are unraveled and reimagined.First and foremost, thank you to the social workers who participated in this study.Thank you for your willingness to share with me, for your trust, your candour, and your generosity of time and spirit. I feel honoured to hear, hold, and share these stories.I would like to gratefully acknowledge the enormous contributions of my supervisor, Dr. Pamela Grassau, and my committee member, Dr. Kelly Fritsch. You have carved out and protected space for me to bring so much of myself to this work. Kellythank you for broadening my knowledge and understanding of disability and for pushing this work far beyond the expanses I ever imagined possible. Thank you for your considerate questions, critique, and feedback. Pam -thank you for taking care of me and my work, for being my fiercest cheerleader, and for embracing all my metaphors. Thank you for being the most generous, thoughtful, and creative supervisor probably in the history of all supervisors, ever. This journey with you has been a precious gift that I will always cherish.Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the questions and ideas in this thesis -to strangers, friends, classmates, instructors, and colleagues for countless conversations at parties, conferences, in the hallways on break from class, over drinks at campus bars, in texts and emails and hours-long video calls. I extend a special message of gratitude to a few people who have strongly influenced my thinking about social work and disability:
