NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Forum May 2011

 

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Utilising advocacy as an everyday skill in brain injury rehabilitation
DONNA KING, South West BIRS

 

Title: Utilising advocacy as an everyday skill in brain injury rehabilitation

Author: DonnaKing South West Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, Albury

Within a medically orientated system, the focus on medical condition and deficit orientation has been detrimental to people with a disability being accepted within society, resulting in discrimination and breaching of their human rights (French & Swain, 2008). As a result it is crucial for health professionals, who are generally focused on alleviating stress and promoting health and well-being of their clients, to shift away from the dominant medical model of practice. One way of doing this, and of ensuring that the needs and rights of the clients that health professionals are working with are met, is for health professionals to take on a role of advocate for their clients. Within the role of advocate, the health professional would aim to express the needs and wishes of the individual and diminish the probability of injustice in relation to health and disability issues (Bickenbach, 2009).

Clients who have an ABI, are vulnerable to discrimination and ineffective re-integration back into their communities, due to the impact oftheir predominant deficits of cognitive and emotional impairments, (Cornwell, et aI2009). A focus on medical condition and remediation during rehabilitation does not address all the needs of these clients. To meet these needs, health professionals need to become advocates for these clients in which they represent the person with a TBI, empowering the person to represent his/her own interests, and informing the person of the ways he/she can have his/her own say.

This presentation will discuss and critique the role of advocacy in brain injury rehabilitation, and will challenge health professionals working in this field to think differently when aiming to meet their clients' needs.

 

Bickenbach, J. (2009). Advocacy skills for health and social care professionals. [Electronic version]. Disability and Rehabilitation. 31(14), 1111-1124.

Cornwell, P., Fleming, J., Fisher, A., Kendall, M., Ownsworth, T., & Turner, B. (2009). Supporting the needs of young adults with acquired brain injury during transition from hospital to home: The Queensland service provider perspective. Brain Impairment. 10(3), 325-340.

French, S. & Swain, J. (Eds.). Understanding disability: A guide for health professionals. Philadelphia: Churchill Livingstone.