The Evolution Of Language And Perception Of Disability In Occupational Therapy

How do occupational therapy practitioners refer to the persons they serve, and how do these terms reflect our perception of disability as a profession? In the hospital or medical model, we call these persons patients; in the community we referred to them as clients; in the marketplace, they may be called consumers. Children serviced through the schools often are called students, and persons in long-term care may be called residents. However, most of the individuals we serve carry a diagnostic label that makes them eligible for services and defines the work of therapy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2007; Shepard & Jensen, 2002). Impairment refers to the result of pathology, such as a physical, mental, or psychiatric condition. Disability refers to functional limitations as a result of disease or impairment, such as in ambulation or self-care activities. Handicap is the inability to participate in a life activity, such as work, recreation, and community involvement, because of external or internal barriers (CDC, 2007; Shepard & Jensen, 2002). These terms, or “labels,” although currently necessary for eligibility and reimbursement of therapy programs, can be limiting and destructive to one’s self-concept as a human being. With that understanding, how should occupational therapy practitioners address persons within our service? What terms are acceptable, respectful, and honorable and enhance our clientele’s self-image? Through the use of historical inquiry, this article explores the evolution of language in the occupational therapy profession

The Recovery Of Matthew, A Success Story

In the fall of 1994, 11-year-old Matthew experienced a traumatic brain injury. Two years later, he is a consistent honor roll student. This is the story of how occupational therapy helped Matt heal and move on to life as a regular kid

A case of an accessory testicular artery

Dissection of an adult male cadaver revealed the presence of an accessory left testicular artery in addition to the normal right and left testicular arteries. In this case the accessory left testicular artery originated from the ventrolateral wall of the descending aorta. The origin was located between the superior mesenteric artery and the left renal vein. The accessory artery continued to course from the aorta laterally toward the superior ventral portion of the left kidney and then passed ventrally to the kidney on its course inferiorly to the pelvic region. Communication was observed between the accessory left testicular artery and the left renal artery. This variation of gonadal vasculature is of interest from the point of view of its embryogenesis, and possible clinical significance

Musculocutaneous and median nerve connections within, proximal and distal to the coracobrachialis muscle

During dissection of the brachial plexus variations have frequently been observed in the formation and further ramification of the cords to form the musculocutaneous and median nerves (MCN and MN). The present study was undertaken to localise the connections (the communication pattern) of the MN and the MCN with respect to the point of entrance of the MCN to the coracobrachialis muscle. A total of 129 formalin-fixed cadavers were dissected for this purpose. For simplicity we classified the communication patterns as Types I, II, III and IV. In 82 (63.5%) of 129 cadavers 119 communications were found to be present. We were able to identify 4 different patterns of communication. Type I (54 communications, 45%): the communications were proximal to the point of entry of the MCN into the coracobrachialis, Type II (42 communications, 35%): the communications were distal to the point of entry of the MCN into the coracobrachialis, Type III (11 communications, 9%): the MCN did not pierce the coracobrachialis and Type IV (9 communications, 8%): the communications were proximal to the point of entry of the MCN into the coracobrachialis and additional communication took place distally. Precise knowledge of variations in MCN and MN communications may prove valuable in traumatology of the shoulder joint, as well as in plastic and reconstructive repair operations

Sternalis muscle: a mystery still

Despite intensive anatomical research during the last century, anatomical structures or variations of these structures may still cause confusion or even iatrogenic injury. A matter of debate is the sternalis muscle. We present a review of the literature of the sternalis muscle with special emphasis on its clinical anatomy

Creating Collaborative Lifelong Solutions: Person, Family, Professionals, and Community

Across the United States, two million families are struggling to create supports for their loved ones with an intellectual disability and mental illness (Easter Seals, 2008). This same trend is being seen in the State of Maine where there are an increasing number of youth diagnosed on the Autism spectrum with a co-morbid mental health disorder. Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services reports that Maine Care recipients with Autism and related disorders in 2009, numbered 4156 (Richardson, 2011), with those entering adulthood in the fastest growing group. As we look to the future, there are over 2500 individuals between the ages of 6-17 years currently diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (Richardson, 2011). Nationwide, we know that 80% of those with a developmental disability between the ages 19-30 live with their parents, as few other choices exist outside institutionalization. Meanwhile, nationwide, 500,000 children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder are expected to reach adulthood in the next 15 years (Diament, 2010), 1 in 5 families with an adult child with developmental disabilities state that someone had to quit their jobs to provide care, and 80% of caregivers of adult children with developmental disabilities have put their retirement savings in jeopardy (Diament, 2011). Additionally, the statistics highlight many individuals with a developmental disorder (such as Autism) also have a co-morbid mental health diagnosis. Mental health problems faced by this population include anxiety, depression, and behavioral disorders (Mueller & Prout, 2009)

An autonomic approach to denial of service defence

Denial of service attacks, viruses and worms are com- mon tools for malicious adversarial behaviour in networks. In this paper we propose the use of our autonomic routing protocol, the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN), as a means to defend nodes from Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS), where one or more attackers generate flooding traffic from multiple sources towards selected nodes or IP addresses. We use both analytical and simulation mod- elling, and experiments on our CPN testbed, to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of our approach in the pres- ence of imperfect detection of DDoS attacks, and of false alarms

A case of an anomalous cricothyroid artery

The cricothyroid artery typically originates as a branch of the superior thyroid artery and courses medially to reach the median cricothyroid ligament. Anatomical variations of this pattern are not well documented in the literature. We present a case in which the left cricothyroid artery originated from the left superior thyroid artery near the superior border of the thyroid cartilage and coursed medially to pierce the thyroid lamina. This variation was found during a routine anatomy dissection at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. The possible clinical implications and their relevance to emergency airway management procedures are discussed

Anatomical variations of the superficial and deep palmar arches

The use of radial arteries as an arterial bypass conduit is an invasive procedure which is becoming popular among various medical centres. The greatest risk associated with harvesting the radial artery is ischaemia of the soft tissues of the hand. In this study we dissected 200 hands derived from 100 formalin-fixed cadavers in order to identify arterial patterns that will allow safe removal of the radial artery for use in bypass procedures. A complete superficial palmar arch (SPA) was found in 90% of the cases and divided into 5 types, while the remaining 10% possessed an incomplete palmar arch. Types of SPA are designated by the letter S. In type S-I (40%), the SPA is formed by anastomosis of the superficial volar branch of the radial artery to the ulnar artery. Type S-II (35%) is formed entirely of the ulnar artery. Type S-III (15%) is formed by anastomosis of the ulnar and median arteries. Type S-IV (6%) is formed by anastomosis of the ulnar, radial, and median arteries and Type S-V (4%) is formed by a branch of the deep palmar arch (DPA) communicating with the SPA.DPA was identified in all specimens and classified into three types, all designated by the letter D. Type D-I (60%) is formed by anastomosis of the deep volar branch of the radial artery and the inferior deep branch of the ulnar branch. Type D-II (30%) is formed by anastomosis of the deep volar branch of the radial artery and the superior deep branch of the ulnar artery. Type D-III (10%) is formed by anastomosis of the deep volar branch of the radial artery with both deep branches of the ulnar artery. This data could provide an important source of information for vascular surgeons harvesting radial arteries

Applications of Sports Data to Study Decision Making

The features and determinants of human decision making, especially under competitive environments, have been a central theme of research in economics and psychology alike. This special issue centers on applying sports data to understand behavior and decision making in competitive environments. In particular, we assemble original research with sports data that provides us with insights into hitherto unanswered questions relating to various strategic and psychological aspects of decision making