CPN executive member Dr Barbara E Gibson's commentary paper, originally published in rehabINK magazine, explains being critical to a non-critical audience. She has kindly agreed for us to reproduce it here so we can all draw on this valuable resource to explain criticality. Critical Rehabilitation Research: Why it matters for all research by Barbara E Gibson Critical research approaches are gaining in popularity in the rehabilitation sciences and yet there remains some confusion regarding the meaning of “critical” and its applications to research and practice. While a burgeoning interdisciplinary literature is available explaining critical approaches, very little of this work is … [Read more...] about What does ‘critical’ mean again?
Disabled physiotherapists – Karen Atkinson comment
Earlier this week we asked Karen Atkinson, CPN member, Physiotherapy Professional Lead at University of Hertfordshire, and contributor to the Project Advisory Group that helped produce the WCPT's recent briefing paper Access to physical therapist entry level education and practice for persons with disabilities, to comment on the paper and provide some background. Karen has longstanding expertise in supporting disabled students and qualified professionals during their education and employment and real insights into the process that made this important report possible. Karen kindly provided us with the following overview: As someone who has worked to support disabled students and qualified … [Read more...] about Disabled physiotherapists – Karen Atkinson comment
WCPT advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in physiotherapy profession
Last week, the WCPT unveiled its latest briefing paper titled Access to physical therapist entry level education and practice for persons with disabilities. This paper and supporting resources are significant, not only for their critical and radical statements on the relationship between physiotherapists and people with disabilities, but also because they situate one of the profession's leading advocacy organisations in the position of critiquing physiotherapy's longstanding atheism towards disability rights. Physiotherapists have long paid lip-service to the idea that they advocate for the rights of disabled people, but have systematically excluded disabled people from training (with … [Read more...] about WCPT advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in physiotherapy profession
Interview: Amy Hiller
Amy Hiller has been a member of the CPN from its inception and she recently presented at the Critical Physiotherapy Forum at the Australian Physiotherapy Association conference. She is a musculoskeletal physiotherapist, a qualitative researcher and an educator. Amy is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne where she investigates communication in physiotherapy. I interviewed her about her PhD work. What got you interested in exploring patient-physiotherapist interactions to start with? I have always enjoyed listening to people’s stories and trying to understand each individual and their unique circumstances through my clinical work. It was, however, after my year … [Read more...] about Interview: Amy Hiller
Disrupting the Disabled/Normal Divide
blog post by A/Prof Barbara Gibson My new book Rehabilitation: A Post-critical Approach was written to help rehabilitation students and practitioners make the links between the critical scholarship and what it might mean for practice. A key chapter in the book explores how as a society we think about ‘normal’ as a preferred state of being, and how this is carried over into our rehabilitation practices. Here I provide an overview of this discussion. Normalizing practices in rehabilitation help sustain negative attitudes towards disabled people and deny the richness of human diversity. In making this somewhat provocative statement my purpose is not to suggest that all rehabilitation … [Read more...] about Disrupting the Disabled/Normal Divide
‘The male race’ and the great things students write…
Now it's the end of the semester and the exams are over, I thought I would share a few student bloopers from our health programmes. These are all authentic out-takes from student assignments and, I think you'll agree, some are pure genius: New Zealand has had a poor oral rate for many years. Contact with live stick for example pigs has been proven to have infected some people with MRSA. This website gave me full detention of congenital heart disease. Many people who consumed aspartame surfed the effect of blindness. By restoring and maintaining health in the developed world beginning in New Zealand we aim to eradicate the 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries … [Read more...] about ‘The male race’ and the great things students write…