ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the recently emerged and ongoing debate both within disability studies and counselling literature as to whether or not disabled people who require or seek counselling should be counselled by disabled counsellors. It considers women's accounts of their experiences of mental distress and the factors which, at a personal level, were considered to have been significant within those experiences. The chapter discusses the issue of gender and it's considered importance within the overall counselling experience for disabled women. It examines the significance of gender within the counselling process and to consider the reasoning for the preferences that were expressed across the sample group to work with a female or male counsellor. By promoting more widely information relating to counselling training within UK disability publications such as Disability Now and on widely-used disability websites, women believed could be viable ways of encouraging more disabled people to consider the possibilities of becoming qualified counsellors.
