Paradigm of Rehabilitation of People with Disability

Abstract

Background. Disability is part of human condition. The number of people with disabilities is growing. Every epoch has faced the moral and political issue of how to include and support people with disabilities best. This issue will become more acute as the demographics of societies change and more people live to an old age. There is a global increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders, which will influence the nature and prevalence of disability. Establishment of a complex rehabilitation system of disabled people is a great challenge. The aim of this article is to discuss issues concerning the provision of help for people with disabilities and devising effective rehabilitation system for them. Discussion. Help for people with disabilities should be understood as a versatile system of legal, medical, economical, organizational, etc., means, which help people regain their disturbed biopsychosocial functions, compensate them and adapt them to society. The article further calls to organise, strengthen, and extend comprehensive rehabilitation services and programmes for disabled people and start them as early as possible based on multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths, including the provision of assistive devices and technologies using ICF. Conclusion. Multidisciplinary teams can convey many rehabilitation benefts to patients. International cooperation can help share good and promising practices and provide technical assistance to countries that are introducing and expanding rehabilitation services.

Keywords: rehabilitation, persons with disabilities, biopsychosocial function, the ICF.