Lecture # 001:
Introduction to the Rehabilitation Process

copyright 2008 Cheryl K. Hosken, BSN, MS Psych.

 
Use ↑ the 3-bar menu button or the → Course Schedule to select a lesson.

DEFINITION OF REHABILITATION

The Social Ministry of the Church focuses on rehabilitation, which means restoration of the handicapped person so he can live a rewarding life. The people who are being rehabilitated due to physical or mental problems need individualized services, and the goal is adjustment in society in the best possible way. The process of total rehabilitation includes spiritual, psychological and physical restoration to enable independent living as well as vocational services to find work. The goal of this course is also the restoration of the Сhurch's diakonia-ministry to handicapped people.

The word rehabilitation has multiple prefixes and is a large, rather unglamorous word. BUT it has a highly positive quality due to the constructive work represented. The classical definition of rehabilitation came from an international conference in a symposium of the National Council of Rehabilitation in 1944. It is the following: "Restoration of the handicapped to the fullest physical, mental, social, vocational, and economic usefulness of which they are capable."

There are three fundamental courses of action available when a disability imposes limitations that handicap the individual:
a) remedy the cause of the person's handicap by restoring ability,
b) compensate for the handicap by enhancing other characteristics of the person,
c) or change the environment so that the impact of the disability is avoided.

Examples of these three are as follows:
a) repair of a cleft palate and lip so that it is normal,
b) give an education to a very bright, but disabled person who cannot walk so that he can earn a good living, and
c) build ramps for sidewalks, houses, and government buildings so that handicapped people can get to them.
The best foundation for rehabilitation uses all three of these courses of action to aid the individual.

When Jesus Christ was on earth, He healed the multitudes: Matthew 15:29-31. But when the crowds were expecting another miracle, He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" Matthew 15:32-39. He requires of us that we do what we are able to do.

There are various parts of rehabilitation, which various professionals can help to solve. Total rehabilitation means a comprehensive process and thus includes as above, physical, mental, economic, familial, social, environmental, spiritual, personal, and vocational goals. Total rehabilitation is the culmination of all these services for the person who has a disability.

Question:
1. What groups of people do you know who might be rehabilitated?

Special educational classes are only a preparation for vocational goals. Medical rehabilitation helps a person to function physically so that he may help himself. Rehabilitation is a process that can be applied to more than persons with disabilities. It can be applied to those who are culturally disadvantaged to help them realize their personal and vocational potential so that they are self-sufficient, not depending on others for living.

In what conditions are handicapped people in your country?

A. In socially disadvantageous conditions.

B. In economically self-sufficient conditions.

C. In socially favorable conditions.

Question:
2. What groups do you know in your city or country that are rehabilitating people?

The goal of rehabilitation may not be total rehabilitation. It is only to help the recipient achieve what is realistic for his needs. For example, in Tatarstan, the church installed handrails so that a young man with cerebral palsy could walk in the halls of his apartment rather than crawl on the floor. On the other hand, it may mean helping a person to get full employment. In Ioshkar-Ola, a young man confined to a wheelchair managed to get an education and start a business with the help of his parents and other interested friends.

These two persons had rehabilitation services on a continuum, that is, from self care to self support. Both of these people wanted to be self sufficient and work out their own problems for movement and employment. Rehabilitation then can also be considered as a method where handicapped people are able to mobilize their own resources, decide what they want to be, and achieve goals through their own efforts.

Question:
3.1. Do you know any persons with disability who have been self determined to help themselves?
yes / no.

Question:
3.2. What did they do?

Early ideas about the handicapped person were that he was unfit, incompetent, and disqualified for normal life. When looking at the disabled person, we are drawn to focus on his disability and not on his ability to do something. For example the young man in Ioshkar-Ola, capital of the Mari Republic in Russia, cannot walk and has very limited movement in his hands, but he knows 25 languages! His brain still has the capacity to function very well. He has been a member of the Duma (parliament) of the Republic of Mari El. He has made significant changes in the way people think about disabled people.

Question:
4. How does rehabilitation work in your country?

In the West, the first proposals of vocational rehabilitation were started by a Scottish minister in the early 1800s. His name was Thomas Chalmers. Rev. Chalmers observed that poverty and illness were often caused by personal and health problems. If financial aid was offered to the poor man, he lost his will to be independent. Rev. Chalmers developed the principle of investigating each case of poverty and attempted to find the cause of distress. It was his theory that simply giving money to the poor did not help them to become self-sufficient to support a family. The London Charity Society helped him and gave advice to each person, sponsored the vocational training needed, helped the rehabilitated man find tools and equipment, and gave the family money until the training was completed.

Question:
5.1. Do you know of any rehabilitation organization in your region?
yes / no.

Question:
5.2. What have they done to help disabled people you know?

Definitions:
A. Rehabilitation, - B. Vocational Rehabilitation, - C. Rehabilitant, - D. Rehabilitationist.

6.1. A service to help the disabled person have an occupation that may or may not be paid.
A, B, C, D.

6.2. Provision of help to correct or compensate for a handicapping problem.
A, B, C, D.

6.3. Professional who provides services to the handicapped.
A, B, C, D.

6.4. The recipient of rehabilitation services.
A, B, C, D.

7.1. A plan made with the handicapped person to achieve his life's goals.
A, B, C, D.

7.2. Coordinated organization of rehabilitation services for the disabled person.
A, B, C, D.

7.3. Services provided to a severely handicapped person to control his life and minimize his dependence on others.
A, B, C, D.

7.4. Any physical, mental, or emotional condition that is chronic and limits productive activity.
A, B, C, D.