Category: Perspectives

The Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit: An Introduction and Reflection on Key Take-Aways

In her introduction to this special issue, Amanda Sharp, PT, DPT, PhD, presents a detailed report of how the Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit was envisioned and then brought to fruition. Sharp presents a day-by-day account of the Summit’s presentations, panel discussions, roundtables, and more. Her detailed recounting of the event offers a blueprint for other educators and practitioners seeking to develop their own forums on disability and inclusion. “All are invited to reconsider disability within and external to physical therapy,” she states.

We Are No Longer Alone: Student Panelist Reflections on the Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit

In a vibrant panel discussion on Day One of the Summit, five DPT students with disabilities presented their lived experiences in telling, poignant detail. Attendees later agreed this panel was the “pinnacle of the day.” In this article, the students note the effect their participation had on their own hearts and minds as well; their words show a renewed sense of hope and purpose. “This was a real meeting of the minds to solve the issues blocking the accessibility of our profession,” one author says. “I quickly began taking notes on these topics to take back to my program.”

Forging a New Future

While exploring the ongoing effects of disability on students, clinicians, and patients alike was a key aspect of the Summit, another crucial takeaway for attendees was a reference list offering guidance on moving forward. How do we improve our efforts to create equity of access, inclusion, and anti-ableism? In this introduction, Deana Herrman, PT, PhD, honors the groundbreaking work of disability rights activist Judy Heumann, and notes a good place to begin is with her book, Being Heumann. Along with co-authors, Sarah Caston PT, DPT and Priyanka Bhakta PT, DPT, she has created a list that offers a variety of self-education materials. “It is never too late to start, and it is always okay to keep learning, recognize when we don’t know enough, and strive to do better—for the future,” Herrman concludes.

Utilizing Drama to Teach Intervention Strategies for Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease: The Intersection of Humanities and Clinical Science

Clinical simulations are often used in entry-level healthcare education. However, according to the authors, these simulations lack the depth of understanding that drama can provide to students. This research report details how a two-act play written by the authors and presented here, employing professional actors, increased student understanding of effective interactions with Alzheimer’s patients.

Building Community Through Storytelling: A Case Report

These authors report on their most recent ‘StorySlam’ – an event hosted by USC’s Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy – where Division members described their personal encounters with diversity, equity, and inclusion. The storytellers (including faculty, students, and patients) spoke for just 5 minutes each. But the attendees – many quoted here – noted the impact of those stories, and their enhanced sense of connection with their fellow Division members.

Running Before I Could Walk

Physical therapists who fulfill a clinical rotation abroad often quickly gain new cultural and medical insights. The experience can be particularly intense for students. In this soul-searching account, SPT Mitchel Fenrich describes his day-by-day enlightenments while seeking to help a child with cerebral palsy in Tanzania. He notes the new perspectives he gained on clinical assessments, treatments, cultural mores—and on himself as a practitioner.

Playful Practices: Reflections on Teaching About Narrative Roleplaying Games in Care Contexts

This insightful article describes the creation of a roleplaying workshop for residents of a Children’s Hospital for Mental Health in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The authors demonstrate how “the use of narrative roleplaying games in diverse contexts of care and rehabilitation” can foster ways for children to relate with each other “by sharing the pleasure of playing.”

Through the Lens of Positive Aging

Through the Lens of Positive Aging by David Taylor and Leslie Taylor, et al, offers a fresh approach to the delivery of healthcare for an aging population in the United States – and globally. The ‘humanities interprofessional education activity’ described here is based on the
‘4Ms’ deemed critical for care of the elderly: What Matters; Medication, Mind, and Mobility.

Towards a Global Knowledge Creation Strategy: Learning From Community-Based Rehabilitation

Community-based rehabilitation has been growing worldwide, in efforts to improve the lives of persons with disabilities within their own communities. This Perspective sheds light on the global development of CBR—and demonstrates the differences in rehabilitation research and practices between high-income countries and low-to-middle income countries. To reach all people in need, the authors suggest opportunities for “national collaboration to integrate knowledge between countries regardless of income categorization.”

Getting to the Heart of the Patient-Provider Interaction: A Novel Theoretical Framework

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Implementing Expressive Writing in Outpatient Physical Therapy Clinics: Connecting Theoretical Foundations With Practical Strategies

This extensively-researched article presents a compelling argument for encouraging physical therapy patients to put their thoughts and feelings into writing. The authors argue that while empathetic verbal exchanges are fundamental to the rehabilitation process, simply encouraging patients to write—by using short answer prompts or other methods suggested here—can produce deeper insights that help improve treatment and outcomes.

Humanities Instruction in Physical Therapy Education to Cultivate Empathy, Recognize Implicit Bias, and Enhance Communication: A Case Series

This article strives to encourage the use of humanities within physical therapy education and practice by offering examples of three health humanities-based instructional activities, including two implemented at US universities. “As curricular models in physical therapy education evolve,” the author notes, “the importance of humanities-based instruction to develop empathetic physical therapists should be considered and implemented, as it will not only benefit future patients, but the field of physical therapy as well.”

Reconciling Mystical Experience with Concept of the Self: The Poetry of an Individual with a Right Temporal Lobectomy

This poignant report maps the direct line between the introduction of humanities into rehabilitation and its powerful impact on healing—and beyond. It begins with a case study of a 47-year-old woman with a right temporal lobectomy at age 22, who has written poetry over the past 30 years “to express her positive mystical experiences.” The content then switches to the first-person, with poet Michele Slaton describing the remarkable insights she has experienced on her rehabilitation journey. Her poems, included here, present a deep and moving argument for the gifts that a physical crisis can unlock when humanities play a part in treatment.

A Challenge from the ‘Otherside of America’: Perspectives from a Black Clinician

In this stirring account, Oluremi Wanjiru Onifade and Sarah Caston present an honest and compelling look at the challenges within the physical therapy educational community for Black and brown people. Onifade paints a picture of her life growing up as a Kenyan/Nigerian queer-identifying Black American, and the obstacles she overcame on the path to her DPT. Her account ends where she challenges her colleague Caston: “There is a lack of representation of Black and brown people teaching in your PT program. Are you willing to do something?”
In response, Caston describes how that direct question changes her perception as an educator. She asks, “What does it look like for me, a white, heterosexual, cis-gender woman, to stand up to racism? And again, I ask, what does it look like for the profession of physical therapy to do the same?”

Learning Sciences in Curricula: Making Excellence in Physical Therapist Education Stick

This companion piece to the McDaniels article builds on their arguments for improved learning and applies them to physical therapy education. Steven Ambler advocates for the integration of Learning Sciences in physical therapy curricula. “Curricula that position the student, faculty, and profession as learner, and consider the plurality of learning theories, can help us all reach a deeper sense of what it means to be a physical therapist serving society,” he notes.

Communicating in the Silence: Mental Health and Cultural Considerations in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Population

“Communicating in the Silence” focuses on the challenges that deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) patients can face when seeking mental healthcare. Marcela Almeida and Katherine Kosman detail the barriers to care of one DHH young man, whose “medical diagnosis and treatment path were substantially changed by a more careful assessment that considered the unique aspects of the DHH population.” The authors’ recommendations for the future include an argument for greater use of Certified Deaf Interpreters in healthcare.

Agency Restored, Dignity Preserved: Lessons Learned as an Art Historian About Enhancing Quality of Life for People With Dementia

“What started as a narrowly-focused mission to welcome people with dementia … into our museum for the first time evolved into a much broader and more profound project: to reinvent what agency within the museum would look and feel like for visitors living with dementia,” author Susan Shifrin notes in this compelling piece. She details her journey from that experience to founding ARTZ Philadelphia, a program that invites people with dementia to serve as mentors to program participants.

Fostering Hope and Coping While Living With Lymphedema: A Visual Narrative for Engaging Cancer Survivors and Caregivers

With compelling quotes from participants, and links to their groundbreaking video, these authors relate the fundamental impact of a series of workshops they developed to help cancer survivors live with lymphedema. The lymphedema video is “an accessible tool for patients, caregivers, students, and healthcare professionals,” they note. “We echo the participants’ hope that it will encourage dialogue between health professionals and patients.”

Art Informing Interdisciplinary Care for a Veteran Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study

This poignant case study, featuring impressive art created by a military veteran with traumatic brain injury and comorbidities, expresses the power of Art Therapy to heal profound physical and psychological wounds. “The veteran’s art increased his self-awareness while informing the clinical team of his ongoing experience,” Gayla Elliott notes. His art and his words make a compelling case for adding art to the rehabilitation process.

The Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit: An Introduction and Reflection on Key Take-Aways

In her introduction to this special issue, Amanda Sharp, PT, DPT, PhD, presents a detailed report of how the Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit was envisioned and then brought to fruition. Sharp presents a day-by-day account of the Summit’s presentations, panel discussions, roundtables, and more. Her detailed recounting of the event offers a blueprint for other educators and practitioners seeking to develop their own forums on disability and inclusion. “All are invited to reconsider disability within and external to physical therapy,” she states.

We Are No Longer Alone: Student Panelist Reflections on the Advancing Accessibility and Disability Equity Summit

In a vibrant panel discussion on Day One of the Summit, five DPT students with disabilities presented their lived experiences in telling, poignant detail. Attendees later agreed this panel was the “pinnacle of the day.” In this article, the students note the effect their participation had on their own hearts and minds as well; their words show a renewed sense of hope and purpose. “This was a real meeting of the minds to solve the issues blocking the accessibility of our profession,” one author says. “I quickly began taking notes on these topics to take back to my program.”

Forging a New Future

While exploring the ongoing effects of disability on students, clinicians, and patients alike was a key aspect of the Summit, another crucial takeaway for attendees was a reference list offering guidance on moving forward. How do we improve our efforts to create equity of access, inclusion, and anti-ableism? In this introduction, Deana Herrman, PT, PhD, honors the groundbreaking work of disability rights activist Judy Heumann, and notes a good place to begin is with her book, Being Heumann. Along with co-authors, Sarah Caston PT, DPT and Priyanka Bhakta PT, DPT, she has created a list that offers a variety of self-education materials. “It is never too late to start, and it is always okay to keep learning, recognize when we don’t know enough, and strive to do better—for the future,” Herrman concludes.

Utilizing Drama to Teach Intervention Strategies for Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease: The Intersection of Humanities and Clinical Science

Clinical simulations are often used in entry-level healthcare education. However, according to the authors, these simulations lack the depth of understanding that drama can provide to students. This research report details how a two-act play written by the authors and presented here, employing professional actors, increased student understanding of effective interactions with Alzheimer’s patients.

Building Community Through Storytelling: A Case Report

These authors report on their most recent ‘StorySlam’ – an event hosted by USC’s Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy – where Division members described their personal encounters with diversity, equity, and inclusion. The storytellers (including faculty, students, and patients) spoke for just 5 minutes each. But the attendees – many quoted here – noted the impact of those stories, and their enhanced sense of connection with their fellow Division members.

Running Before I Could Walk

Physical therapists who fulfill a clinical rotation abroad often quickly gain new cultural and medical insights. The experience can be particularly intense for students. In this soul-searching account, SPT Mitchel Fenrich describes his day-by-day enlightenments while seeking to help a child with cerebral palsy in Tanzania. He notes the new perspectives he gained on clinical assessments, treatments, cultural mores—and on himself as a practitioner.