Keith

 

Thanks for your reply. 

 

>I don't see anything positive about the word 
>'rehabilitation'.  It would seem that a person's
>impairment was deemed a sin or crime. 

I wonder whether it's more subtle than this. Rehabilitation is offensive because it implies that a person's 'imperfections' need to be 'overcome' in order for the person to be acceptable in a society that values ability and acheivement, and conceptualises both of these things in rather narrow terms. 

 

>How can a person who has an impairment or condition from
>birth or early childhood be rehabilitated?

 

What about a person who becomes disabled later in life through trauma or illness? What about hospital in-patient rehabilitation programmes following, for example, brain injury or spinal cord injury? Do such programmes have any value at all?

 

I thought Rob Outrams's post was interesting:

 

>I work in an organisation that was set up in the 60's as a rehabilitation
>unit for disabled adults. I joined in 1995 and we were still using the word
>then. We started a process of redifining what we do, including the language
>we use.
>While we have a way to go with this, I believe we are now on the right
>track. We use person centred planning to define goals with people which
>recognise their dreams. We find that most people's dreams boil down to
>living in the community, being valued by that community and taking an active
>part in it. We action plan those goals and this defines the work we do.
>To reinforce the equality of this process, we use similar tools to plan with
>staff. All staff are appraised and supervised on the basis of their goals
>and aspirations.  Planning for all of us becomes a natural and inclusive
>activity and generates the notion of development and continuous learning
>rather than one of "fixing" or making "ready". It also values the individual
>and recognises the need sometimes to adapt systems rather than people.

My own experience is that much lip-service is paid to 'person centred planning' but that it is not a thing that is easy to put into practice in a way that gives the person with the disability control over the rehabilitation process. Power tends to rest firmly in the hands of the staff. I would be interested to know how Rob's programme is evaluated by its users.

 

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I've found the discussion so far really helpful.

 

Gail