Borrowed Time: ‘Identity as Liability’ – A Critical Discourse Analysis of Imposter Syndrome in Social Workers with Disabilities

This major research paper investigates the discourse of imposter syndrome, and how it is understood and affects disabled social workers/social service workers/social work learners. My research question asks: what are the discourses on imposter syndrome in social work and how do they intersect with disability? Using the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA) – informed interviews, I conducted 5 interviews with participants to ask how they understand and experience imposter syndrome with respect to disability. I found that all participants felt the immense impacts of imposter syndrome in the form of upward comparisons, self-doubting, heightened distress, procrastination, and perfectionism. Participants were able to recognize the compounded effects of imposter syndrome on their lives as a result of holding differing identity markers such as: race, sexual orientation, gender identity, type of disability, etc. Social work needs to make room for talk about imposter-hood and challenge the notions of the “ideal social worker”.