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
Capturing physiotherapy
One of the biggest challenges facing the physiotherapy profession, for much of its history, has been the necessity of defining what it is and what it isn't. Prior to World War I, masseuses struggled to show that they could provide a legitimate, trusted and affordable alternative to the poorly trained hacks, prostitutes and doctors who practiced a few rudimentary physical therapies. After WWI the focus shifted to being an ally to doctors in the development of rehabilitation. By the middle of the 20th century, definitions of physiotherapy became embedded in legislation that gave us access to publicly funded health care and some protection of title. By the 1960s, people were agitating … [Read more...] about Capturing physiotherapy
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