Increased postural stability in posterior pelvic girdle pain

Abstract

Results: The literature indicated that the academic and clinical components of physical therapist entry level education pose different challenges for education providers in making accommodations to support those with disabilities. More is written about strategies to support those with visual impairments and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia; little is published on workplace support for physical therapists with other disabilities. Only 25 (24%) of WCPT’s MOs completedthesurvey:4fromAfrica,7fromAsiaWesternPacific, 9 from Europe, 4 from North America Caribbean and 1 from South America. The respondents indicated that education providers do admit students with disabilities but these tend to be mild with visual, hearing and musculoskeletal disabilities most common; however, the incidence of other disabilities is largely unknown. The pattern was similar for reports of practising physical therapists with disabilities. The WHO International Classification of Function and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities were most frequently reported as guiding physical therapist education (56% and 72% respectively) and practice (64% and 48% respectively). Conclusion(s): Response rates were low and this may reflect differing levels of awareness of the issues in the countries of WCPT’s MOs and the stages of development in education and practice. There are examples of good practice that can be shared. Future work should look at the effectiveness of accommodations for different disabilities and their limitations on scope of practice. Implications: WCPT will use the results to raise awareness and guide physical therapist education and practice internationally by providing a toolkit of collated resources on the WCPT website, signposting good practice examples and promotion of WCPT’s policy statement on disability that supports the inclusion of people with disabilities in the profession.