Spring 2023

Living the Hard Times Out Loud
This beautiful poem by “a mother on a mission to help families and caregivers navigate life with differently-abled kids” presents the powerful story of Noah Williams. Noah lives an extraordinary life as an artist, athlete, and public speaker, as he deals daily with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and visual impairment. As Naomi’s words flow through the poem, they detail his lifelong struggle, and the love of people who join in his joy of living and help him navigate his days. “The best that is in him keeps unfolding into the spaces so many help open and hold.”

How Structural Oppression Has Shaped the Physical Therapy Profession and Access to Rehabilitative Services
Physical therapy has been practiced in the US for more than 100 years. But have rehabilitative services been the same for all Americans? These authors show how Black, Brown, and Indigenous People have not fully reaped the rewards of this, or any, aspect of the US healthcare system. They state that the nation’s “structural racism” continues to shape “exclusion of racialized persons from all levels of physical therapy.” They offer this article as a “first step in better understanding this history”—and in finding real solutions.

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.”

Profiles in Professionalism With Susan S. Deusinger
doi: 10.18737/0607111345 AMA Citation: Deusinger SS, McCune M. Profiles in Professionalism with Susan S. Deusinger. J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607111345 Download the article (pdf)

“The Hat”
doi: 10.18737/0607300086 AMA Citation: Swiggum M. “The Hat.” J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607300086 Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents My husband was so

Ascents
doi: 10.18737/0607594699 AMA Citation: Nash W. Ascents. J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607594699 Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents Rock-hobbled pace: praiseproud, profane. Slow

Owed to the Fingers
doi: 10.18737/0607755580 AMA Citation: Cramer SC. Owed to the Fingers. J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607755580 Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents Fingers make

Little Gestures
doi: 10.18737/0607565644 AMA Citation: Peterson S. Little Gestures. J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607565644 Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents You turned the broken

“The Classroom, Clinic, and Community: What Can We Do With All Three?”
doi: 10.18737/0607906280 AMA Citation: Trauger M. “The Classroom, Clinic, and Community: What Can We Do With All Three?” J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607906280 Download

Getting to the Heart of the Patient-Provider Interaction: A Novel Theoretical Framework
The complexity of the patient-provider interaction (PPI), and its effect on healing, is a much-debated topic. In this innovative article, the authors present a new approach to caring: The Compassionate H.E.A.R.T. Model of PPI. Based on an exhaustive review of the current literature, the model seeks to support a “more thorough view of the dyadic PPI.” By doing so, it offers a new guide for practitioners to help “ease, alleviate and relieve, therapeutically,” each encountered patient’s condition.

The Fight
In this expressive poem, Dr. Diana Early gives an authentic voice to the experiences of parents of children born with Down syndrome. Drawing upon her research into the lives of families, she chronicles “the fight” these parents endure to gain what others take for granted.
Editorial: “The Thicket of Life”
doi: 10.18737/0607307552 AMA Citation: Blanton SR. Editorial: “The Thicket of Life.” J Hum Rehabil. 2023; Spring. doi:10.18737/0607307552 Download the article (pdf) Table of Contents The

Gutted
Tiffany Bystra reflects on the peculiar path of her illness journey, which has led to a trail of recovery that feels both disappointing and thrilling. In this powerful and humbling poem, she provides rich insight into how it feels to taste both the sweetness and the tartness of life in the same moment.

The Intouchables Revisited: Shifting Perspectives With our Dynamic Society
We present our first set of paired articles—the previously published The Intouchables–A Reflection on Disability and Caregiving: Who Helps Whom? and a new piece, Intouchables Revisited: Shifting Perspectives With our Dynamic Society, both by Dr. Sarah Caston. The author re-visits her previous article with a fresh perspective.
On her own journey to revisit this piece, Caston invites us into this “space of curiosity,” to question our long-held presumptions, and rethink words like independence, autonomy, and flourishing. She asks us to ponder what it means to “relinquish…our power in order to empower.” We present both her original review and her current commentary together, to observe the process of critical thinking–and re-thinking–and to perhaps prompt us to do so in our own work.