Name: Cinthia Croussett Book Title: Raymond's Room
THRC 2201 TR & DD Book Review – 15 pts/15% final grade
Book Topic #1; 1/2-page Discussion in relationship to readings, videos, PPT, class discussions, guests, etc.4 pts
While in institutions patients face many challenges. Ranging from poor hygiene to poor medical support, patients deal with all kinds of problems. In the book Raymond's room one of the themes was Dehumanization. According to the Webster's dictionary to dehumanize someone means "to deprive of human qualities, personality, or spirit" (Webster). In the 1700s people were institutionalized for having a disability. These institutions many times were called state schools for the feeble minded. The patients were sterilized to make sure they could not reproduce and experimented on to see if doctors could find a cure for their disease. In "Raymond's Room" Dale DiLeo describes his experience on his first day working at an institution and the horror he faces by watching all the patients in the facility having to share one toothbrush. People with disabilities often have to give up their dreams of having a job, and education, or a regular life because able-bodied people set low expectations for them. People with disabilities are offered jobs in sheltered workshops that pay the bare minimum. In the Unity for Work article, they establish that there is no set diagnosis for a disability (Unity). What can be an unbearable pain for one person can be something that someone else can adapt to live with. In 1990 The supreme court ruled that "no qualified individual with a disability shall, "by reason of such disability," be excluded from participation in, or be denied the benefits of, a public entity's services, programs, or activities" (Olmstead). People with a disability still want to be independent and have a say in their own life. However, many people with a disability develop learned helplessness and allow others to make decisions for them. The main problem with learned helplessness being that we take away their independence and their voices. We create what we believe would be "easier" or better for them so that they will not fail. Even though the community is improving in including others and allowing people with disabilities to receive services at home rather than in an institution, people with disabilities are still being treated like "commodities". "And the more needy they're made out to be (by archaic laws/policies and professional expertise), the more valuable they are to those who are economically dependent on them" (Kathie). Many people who have a disability and are being cared for at home receive a monthly disability check from the government. The problem is that caregivers often depend on that check to make ends meet at home. When the individual who has a disability wants to become independent and go on their own it can often leave a financial burden on the family (Unity). This sometimes makes it so that families do not allow for the independence of the individual in order to continue receiving the check. If we are making decisions for them and treating them like commodities, are we taking away the basic qualities of being a human?
Book Topic #2; 1/2 page Discussion in relationship to readings, videos, PPT, class discussions, guests, etc. 4 pts
The second theme I chose from the book is person-centered life planning. This concept follows our theory of treating the person as a whole. This includes allowing the person to make their own treatment decisions instead of having them settle for what their insurance sees as necessary. The first time that I heard the phrase "money follow people" was said by Diana Braun in the documentary Body & Soul. At first, I was confused as to what that really means, but while doing more research and reading more about it I realized that it means that people are in control of what services they get and pay for. A great analogy was used by Kathie Snow. She said it is like going to a store. When you go you choose exactly what you want and what you will pay for (Snow). Medical services should be the same way. In many instances in the reading, the term "Disability-industrial complex" came up. "Imagine that: people with disabilities are seen as dependent, but in truth, everyone in the Disability- Industrial Complex is dependent on people with disabilities! (Kathie Snow, Last page)". What it ended up being is the business that comes with having a disability. Disability services do not always give the clients what they need instead they give what is believed to follow the standard of care (Unity). This standard comes from their own interpretation of the ADA law passed in Olmstead v. the United States where it says "to ensure that persons with disabilities receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs". The word appropriate is open to interpretation and many times it means that clients get the bare minimum. In Title III of the ADA, it states, "The reasonable-modifications regulation speaks of "reasonable modifications" to avoid discrimination, and allows States to resist modifications that entail a "fundamental alteration of the States' services and programs (ADA)". Many institutions provide "reasonable modifications" but fail when avoiding discrimination. A person with a disability is not always at the center of the treatment plans made by a specialist because many doctors and medical professionals follow the Medical model which focuses on fixing the problem. If the disability was seen instead as part of the person, not the person itself, and the patient was included in the treatment decisions, then the services provided would be more person-centered. They would allow for the person to choose what they want to work on and they can choose where to go for that. Unnecessarily institutionalizing and segregating people with disabilities is a form of discrimination and it is illegal. In these institutions, people do not get the services they need or a say in what happens to them. They cannot choose to stay or go. It is their prison. If the community could see that people with a disability can add to what we have instead of having the NIMBY mentality, Individual needs could be met and people would be at the center of their own care.
So What? ½-1 page 5 pts Discussion on what the concepts you picked mean to you as a rec therapist and in the delivery of RT to individuals with I&DD
As a Recreation Therapist, I will be treating patients/clients as a whole. Focusing on their strengths and using them in order to increase their independence. I can give them choices as to what they want to work on and keep high expectations for them. Instead of dehumanizing my clients because I do not understand their disability I can research and learn more in order to have them be the center of their plan. Many times, we can include their family in the treatment plan and when I do that I can help a client adapt in the community as well. We are trained to use people first language which is where we put the person before the disability. This makes my treatment approach more person-centered. Anything can be adapted. If I want to include someone with a disability in my plan I can change things around and make them more inclusive. People with disabilities should not have to give up on a dream. Instead, I should help them get there by doing the things they love to do the most. If we can choose what we buy, we should also be able to choose where we go for help or how we get help. If I feel like I do not have the best treatment for the patient I can send them elsewhere where someone else can really help them and not cause them any harm. Most importantly I can hear their voice, listen to their needs, and work with them to reach their goals. I do not know their pain nor can I pretend to understand it. The best I can do is work with them, treat them like the humans they are, and make them the center of their treatment.
References – APA formatted – Include all references assigned 2 pts
Quality of format (grammar, college caliber, the overall quality of assignment)
https://www.ada.gov/olmstead/index.htm
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/98-536.ZS.html