By: Deborah Sons, LEND PT Trainee
During my time as a LEND trainee, I have had the opportunity to learn about ableism and reflect on ableist practices in physical therapy. The American Psychology Association defines ableism as “prejudice and discrimination aimed at disabled people, often with a patronizing desire to ‘cure’ their disability and make them ‘normal’”1. Although physical therapists’ desire to cure impairments might come from pure intentions, this desire can lead to ableist assumptions and practices.
As a student physical therapist, I am being trained to identify patient impairments, activity limitations, and restriction in participation. Once these are identified, physical therapists create interventions and goals focused on resolving or reducing the impairments, restrictions, and limitations. Overall, the goal is to improve patients’ quality of life. This goal is displayed in the American Physical Therapy Association’s vision statement “Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience”2. Before participating in LEND, this vision statement was very clear to me. Improved movement leads to improved experience and quality of life. While being in LEND, I have learned that improved movement might not be the most appropriate goal. Every individual has a different idea of what the human experience should be.
In a video interview on ableism, Stacey Milburn, a disability rights activist, discussed her experience going to physical therapy three times a week as a child. She states that she did not understand the obsession with learning to walk and that she felt liberated when using a wheelchair3. Although her physical therapist believed that walking would increase her ability to participate with others on the playground and increase her ability to do everyday activities, walking was not crucial to Stacy’s idea of the human experience. If her physical therapist had understood or listened to Stacy’s desires, it would have saved her countless hours spent in physical therapy and other medical visits. As physical therapists, we need to prioritize understanding the patient’s experience and goals in order to plan proper treatment.
I believe that active listening during the physical therapy examination will lead to proper care. During the examination, physical therapists are trained to ask questions on a patient’s prior level of function, social history, living environment, and lastly patient goals for therapy. If we truly listen to patients’ goals and what they expect to achieve out of therapy, we can treat them properly. A patient’s lived experience and desires matters more than our clinical expertise.
References:
Vision Statement for the Physical Therapy Profession. APTA. Published September 25, 2019. Accessed January 31, 2024. https://www.apta.org/apta-and-you/leadership-and-governance/policies/vision-statement-for-the-physical-therapy-profession
Understanding ableism and negative reactions to disability. Accessed January 30, 2024.https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/psychology-teacher-network/introductory-psychology/ableism-negative-reactions-disability
Ableism Is The Bane of My Motherfuckin’ Existence.; 2017. Accessed January 31, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IelmZUxBIq0
