According to various estimates, about 5 to 10 percent of the world’s population
is affected by one or more disabilities. In our country (with a population of
over 100 crores now) the National Sample Survey 2001 has estimated that about
2.19 crores or nearly two percent of the population, who experience difficulty
in walking or using their limbs, or suffer from visual, hearing or mental
impairment. Since over 70 percent of our population is in rural areas, the
number of those with less severe disability could be much larger. Also the
extent of disability and handicap is quite variable in the minds of several
people, and what construes disability to one person seems perfectly normal
to another.
Prevalence of disability was marginally more among males. In modern
society, acting independently is of supreme importance—be it in the area of
personal care, day to day activities, cooking, studies, or for that matter
anything that requires human endeavor or pursuit. It is in these areas that
a disabled person suffers most; socially, economically, psychologically and
emotionally.
Due to physical or mental handicap a disabled person cannot act
independently in many spheres of life and hence faces many problems in his
social adjustment. His incapacity generates emotional problems like apathy,
self-pity and resentment and he tends to isolate himself from society.
This is seen in the statistics, which show that an abysmally low percent
of persons with disability in rural India have an educational level of
secondary education, and above. A small minority of seven percent is
employed regularly.
Rehabilitation is not just the responsibility of a few NGOs or the government.
It is the collective responsibility of the society consisting of able bodied
individuals. The role of rehabilitation is to minimize disability and handicap,
and help a handicapped person lead a useful life within his limitations, in other
words, to make a disabled person into a “differently abled” person.
WHAT IS REHABILITATION?
Rehabilitation focuses on the existing capacities of the handicapped person,
and brings him to the optimum level of his or her functional ability by the
combined and coordinated use of medical, social, educational, and vocational
measures.
It makes life for the handicapped individual more meaningful, more
productive and therefore adds more life to years.
It is the third phase of medical care; after preventive and curative.
Preventive medicine is the first phase where a disease is prevented from
occurring, by avoiding the interaction between agent, host and environment.
Curative medicine, the second phase focuses on attempting to cure the disease.
Most doctors practice curative medicine. However there are several conditions
like rheumatoid arthritis which has no cure, and others, like poliomyelitis in
which the agent causing the disease has been eliminated from the host, but
residual effects like paralysis still persist. Therefore, there is a need for a third
phase, namely rehabilitation, which is not just medical but also a social
responsibility.
Rehabilitation must, be started at the earliest possible time in order to ensure
the best results. It is administered in conjunction with specific medical or
surgical treatment of the precipitating disease.
Rehabilitation may be medical or sociovocational. Medical rehabilitation
is the utilization of medical and paramedical skills to help treat the patient.
The role of medical rehabilitation is to limit disability. Sociovocational rehabilitation
follows, or sometimes is delivered simultaneously along with medical
rehabilitation. The role of sociovocational rehabilitation is to limit handicap.
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