A word choice is a great tool for advocacy for all social workers. Through the word choice, respect between the social worker and the client is upheld. For any social worker, it is critical to demonstrate respect through word choice for any social work. Advocating for clients who are challenged is tricky due to the power of word choice. Advocacy implies influencing others for the benefits of a particular client. Whileadvocating or influencing avulnerableclient, a social worker needs to demonstraterespect to the individual clientby honoringhis or her right to self-determination and avoiding imposing values and beliefs through their word choices. In an ethical statement made by NASW code of ethics (2008), “Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.” This implies that while working with vulnerable clients, social workers are obliged to use polite words and language regarding their clients. Though there are many cases where advocacy using assault and poor word choice including violent language has worked; it is ethical for social workers to ensure that they use polite words while advocating or working with clients who are vulnerable. According to the Kantian ethical principle of respect, respect is a categorical imperative; that is, being respectful is always a good thing. Respect, in this case, implies the choices of words during social work.
Influencing people and at the same time imparting knowledge or people to understand a particular issue is the implication of salt and light as used in the Bible. For a social worker, it means trying toinfluence others to understand a particular issue without allowing any negative influences from others. The best way to achieve this is setting up rules that apply to every person the team. A good example is advocating for policies that reduce racial injustices within a company. Avoiding disturbances and stimulating thirst or knowledge on this issue means training and educating the clients and colleagues on the benefits of racial justices so that they understand why they have to fight for racial justice within the institution.
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