rehabilitation of physically, mentally and socially challenged persons including the old persons
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Answer:
rehabilitation
service for the physically handicapped has been established by the federal government and thirty-six states. It is not a new form of charitable service that attempts to mitigate the losses and sufferings of industrial workers occasioned by accident, disease or congenital defects, but it is an effort to return citizens suffering from physical defects that interfere with their vocational opportunities, to remunerative occupations, that they may lead independent, self-supporting lives.
The persons who are eligible for the service must be 14 years of age or over, citizens of the states in which they reside, and not feebleminded, epileptic or maintained in custodial institutions. They may have met with their handicaps in industry or otherwise; that is, they may be the victims of accidental injury or be suffering from the result of disease or congenital defects, but they must be normal mentally and susceptible of rehabilitation.
MENTAL RETARDATION
is one of our major health, welfare, social, and vocational problems. It is the most common handicapping condition of childhood and an important cause of unemployment among adults. Its implications reach far beyond the usual focus of the physician's practice. Diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation involve a number of medical specialties and, in addition, many nonmedical professionals, among them teachers, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, and vocational counselors.
The National Council on Rehabilitation, in 1943, defined rehabilitation as the restoration of handicapped persons to the fullest physical, mental, social, vocational, and economic usefulness of which they are capable.1 Techniques in rehabilitation have been well-developed in recent years and the field has acquired substantial tradition, particularly since the second World War. Work with the retarded, however, is rather limited, even at this date.
There is evidence of increasing professional, public, and governmental interest in retardation.2-4 There are plans to
socially challenged
Disability attitudes are major barriers in improving life conditions of physically challenged people in developing countries. Studies have shown that people, in general, harbour negative and paternalistic attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Myths, legends, scriptures and folklores are all part of the cultural belief system that shape such attitudes. The physically challenged frequently suffer more due to societal prejudices than due to their disabling physical conditions. The social and physical environment in which these physically challenged live is often designed without much consideration of their special needs. In this article, some social interventions aimed at changing disability attitudes of rural people in India are discussed. As part of a community-based rehabilitation programme, the main thrust of these interventions was to shift attention of local communities from disabilities to abilities of the physically challenged. The efficacy of these social interventions is discussed
age old
Older people who may benefit from rehabilitation typically have a major disability of recent onset. They have had a stroke, hip fracture or other fracture, a fall-related injury, or a major illness (such as severe cardiac failure); or they have ongoing severe osteoarthritis or Parkinson's disease. The disability will have compromised their ability to live independently, or semi-independently.
Most older people with recent significant disability, or deterioration in a pattern of stable disability, have the potential to benefit from rehabilitation. Chronological age per se should not be a factor in determining participation in a rehabilitation program. The major consideration is the ability to benefit from rehabilitation. The prime determinants of this are the severity of the presenting disability and the extent of pre-existing disability.6 Severe cognitive impairment is a risk factor for a poor response to a rehabilitation program. Older people with more minor disability, as a result of wrist fracture or knee osteoarthritis, can also benefit from rehabilitation programs, often on an outpatient or domiciliary basis.