A perspective on disability and rehabilitation

Abstract

This paper is written in honor of the memory of the late Jules Rothstein, editor in chief “emeritus” of the Physical Therapy (the journal of the American Physical Therapy Association - APTA) who passed away on the 27-08-2005. It is  fitting to dedicate a paper on disability to Dr. Rothstein, as he himself likened  disability with the identity of physiotherapy. A paper focusing on disability at this time might be the wake up call needed to make physiotherapists heed the African decade of the disabled person, which is more than halfway through. The paper highlights the problem of sparse evidence in rehabilitation and emphasizes the need for an evidence-based approach to rehabilitation. Practical suggestions for the implementation of EBP in rehabilitation using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability (ICF) as a framework are proposed. This paper is envisaged to enthuse rehabilitation physiotherapists to embrace EBP, so that their focus is redirected to the ‘eradication of disability’.