Rehabilitation and Disability: A Practice Setting in Occupational Therapy
“In support of the Centennial Vision, in accordance with AOTA, Rehabilitation, Disability, and Participation, has been identified as a key practice area in the 21st century” (AOTA n.d.). But what is a disability and what does it mean to rehabilitate? To rehabilitate means to bring something back to its original state. A disability is defined as “anyone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability” (ADA 2015). In correlation with disabilities and rehabilitation, inpatient and outpatient are the two prominent sites in rehabilitative care. Inpatient rehabilitation commonly refers to physician and therapy services one would receive during a stay in a hospital or if
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Outpatient rehabilitation refers to services a person receives when they are not admitted to the hospital and have the ability and functionality to return home with or without assistance. These inpatient and outpatient clinic can range from nursing homes, pediatric clinics and Rehabilitation tackles the privations of people with injuries, illnesses, or insufficiencies in their occupational functioning as a result of existential causes and is also a primary staple in occupational therapy. The overall goal of rehabilitation is to restore the health and functional abilities of people after an injury or acute illness (AOTA n.d.). Moreover, it is not enough to just know what rehabilitation and disability means in occupational therapy, it also helps to include those who receive services, other services that are provided, and the roles of those who facilitate and help assist the Occupational Therapist and