May 6 - 8, 2002
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Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services
to Persons Born in other Countries May 6 - 8, 2002 |
General systems thinking and its applications for community based rehabilitation
Johnstone, C.
National Center on Educational Outcomes
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
john4810@umn.edu
Abstract
This paper is a theory-generating discussion on an innovative way to reconstruct rehabilitation schemes for persons with disabilities in developing nations. Currently, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is the methodology of choice fo r national and international governmental agencies. CBR is an improvement over institutionalized services, (or no services at all), but still offers limited choices for people with disabilities. Using a literature review of General Syst ems Thinking and disability resources, a new organizational structure for Community Based Rehabilitation is proposed. This structure is organic in nature, and takes the shape of a biological cell, rather than a top-down approach. The structure uses availa ble resources, cultural/identity generation, and futures planning to promote full societal inclusion of people with disabilities.