Careers Menu
University Personnel Preparation Programs
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Careers in Special Education and
Human Services
As we set up this web site, we had two purposes. Our primary purpose is
to assist teachers with resources they can use in a peer tutoring program.
Second, we want to give you--high school students--accurate information
about possible careers in special education and other related fields working
with people with disabilities. The pages linked with this one will give
an overview of the range of career options in the human services.
While anyone in the schools will see special educators working on a daily
basis with students with disabilities, many students are unaware that
there are a wide variety of potential careers working people with disabilities.
These range all the way from what is called “paraprofessional”
positions that require two years of college to highly specialized professions
that require years of graduate study. In many fields like nursing and
psychology, there are specializations working with people with disabilities,
while in community services there are whole fields like job development
or residential support that deal exclusive with people with disabilities.
The term "Human services" is used to describe work with people
with disabilities and other careers in what you may also see described
as social services. This idea of human services is very appropriate because
many of us come into this field because we are genuinely interested in
working directly with people. This direct personal connection makes up
for the fact that human services do not pay as well as the business world.
And yet, as you review the information on these web pages you will see
that human services is a business which employs many people and involves
a great deal of money.
It is important for people in these human service fields to remember that
they are paid for working with people. We are not being paid for shuffling
paper, putting cans on a shelf, or selling cars. There is nothing wrong
with these other jobs but in human services, the bottom-line is people.
As you explore some of the units on this web site, you will look back
on the history of how society has treated people with disabilities. One
of the important lessons of this history is that bad things happened to
people with disabilities when the folks working with them forget that
simple fact that they are working with human beings.
The Human Services Career Network
is intended to bring together Human Service agencies and professionals
across the country to meet employment needs, provide useful tools, share
"best practices", and communicate trends for the advancement
of the people with whom they work. In addition to job referrals and articles
about human service organizations the, Good
Works section showcases inspiring stories happening every day in the
field of human services.
You notice, we keep talking about “careers,” not just getting
a job. A large number of people get jobs working in human services, but
they are doing it because those jobs are what are available to enable
them to support themselves and their families. For some of these people,
this first job becomes a career, while others move on. What is the difference
between a job and a career? The career is a long term plan for what you
want to achieve in life. It is a roadmap of increasing skill and responsibility.
It starts now—when you are young—and stretches on for some
people even into volunteer work after they retire.
You may review the ten steps to planning you future for middle and high
school at http://www.mapping-your-future.org/MHSS.
There are a number of other websites to help young people work through
the process of planning:
http://www.careerperfect.com
provides on-line tools to help your explore career interest and options.
Check out some of the resources under “online career planning and
testing.”
Some other places to explore tools for career exploration are “career
exploration” at http://www.careernet.org
or The Career Key http://www.careerkey.org/english.
To get back to our bottom line, we would like you to consider a career
in special education or another human services. The other web pages in
this section on careers will provide with a variety of information on:
• special education as a profession;
• university programs in Kentucky and sources of financial aid for
college;
• the range of other professions that work with people with disabilities
in the schools; and
• career opportunities in community services for adults with disabilities.