Understanding Concept of Disability

Okay. So, um, for those of you who aren't able

to view the voicethread, I've done what I know how

to do to reestablish the link.

Um, but I'm worried that some of you still won't

be able to open it.

So I'm just going to re tape this section here

on the introduction to disability concepts.

Um, specifically going over a mobility function, independence and health.

And this is and relationship to the some of the

conversation that we had yesterday Tuesday on the review.

So, um, what we just to re conceptualize this?

Um, remember thinking that disability is a construct.

It's that idea that there's, um able bodied and disabled

or normal and not normal.

And what we really what I really want you to

understand is that disability really is a function of, um,

how a person interacts with anything.

So the lack of or the inability to repair, which

is what defines disability is really this understanding of how

a person is interacting with the system or systems who

they are, what they're doing and where they're doing it.

And, um, so that if you run into a problem

where who you are is so challenged by what you're

trying to do and where you're trying to do it.

Then you feel enable or disabled.

And so we really want to think less about characteristics

and more about how a person moves, what they want

to be doing and how independently they want to be

doing it.

And again.

So that is really the the point of thinking about

mobility, function and independence Skip past this.

Um, so we have four general concepts here.

Mobility, function, independence and health.

And when each each of these black boxes that you're

seeing, um are Ted video links.

And, um, I'll explain those in just a minute.

So these, uh, the Venn diagram here with health intersecting

all three areas mobility, function and independence is to represent

that idea that health is impacted by how a person

moves, um, which impacts how much person can do, which

impacts how much a person can do on their own.

And so, like I said yesterday, quality of life slash

health, um is intersected by those three elements when a

person moves differently or interacts with the world differently.

And so when we think about mobility, as I explained

yesterday and mobility is literally what that person can do

in terms of movement.

So I think about it as how they move.

Do they stand and walk with assistance?

How much assistance do they need standing and walking?

Do they stand and walk independently?

But they're walking?

Isn't traditional III typical heel toe strike off with a

slight swinging the arms?

Do they push sometimes, or do they walk?

Sometimes Do they push full time and never use an

electric wheelchair?

Are they always in electric wheelchair, but only use it

because it's too hard to push distances?

So what is this thing that this person is doing

and how are they moving and qualitatively, how does that

impact their ability to do other things?

So I gave you a link to a Ted video

here on a group of M I T professors who

designed a wheelchair for people who live in Guatemala, which

is a fairly remote area.

And they wanted to make sure people could access living

in remote villages, um, the ability to kind of get

around town, but also the ability to get around their

villages. And it's just a up an absolute perfect example

of how person task and environment impact overall health and

function and how just a little tweak here and there.

It can make a huge difference in a person's life,

so it's just a It's a wonderful example.

Please take a look.

So the next thing that we think about is function

and function is a broad spectrum concept related to, for

example, and therapy situations, activity of daily living.

But for like us when we think about rehabilitation, I

think about okay, this is This is what the person

has to do every day of their life.

They've got to get out of bed.

Um, they have to use the bathroom.

They might want to make a cup of coffee or

tea, or they need to use the refrigerator.

Or they might have to go in a kitchen area.

Um, they have to be in their house doing things,

and they have to maybe use public transportation or they

need to use their car.

Um, if they have a job, what is their job

situation like?

So it's everything that person does down to the bare

minimum, transferring, reaching, grabbing um, moving from high to low

or low to high if they're in a chair, bending

over to pick something up, twisting to get something from

the back of your chair if you're sitting in a

chair. So it's every possible physical function that you would

have to do during the day.

And if you don't think you do a lot of

physical functions during the day, keep track of them.

Okay, so how you move sitting, standing, standing with assistance,

moving with assistance, whatever the case might be, greatly impacts

how much you can do.

And then we think about what do you want to

do functionally and how much do you want to do

on your own?

And when we think about these concepts being health related,

that intersection of the ven, then what most people will

tell us is they want to move to maximize their

function, to do things on their own.

So they have a better improved quality of life.

And that relates to this idea that when a person

feels like they have a better quality of life, they

feel like their disability doesn't equate to or equal their

lifestyle. Those two are not, um, so closely linked that

a person is defined by their disability.

So when we think about the importance of mobility, function

and independence, what we're really getting at is quality of

life and being able to separate how I move from

how I live, relatively speaking, so I hope that helps.

Understanding Concept of Disability

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