There is a resolve to address the challenges faced by People globally to access assistive technology. Context specific needs assessment is required to understand the AT Personnel landscape, to shape and strengthen credentialing frameworks through competencies and certification, acknowledging both general and specific skill mix requirements. Implications for Rehabilitation Personnel in assistive technology (AT) provision should be trained using a person-centred team approach, which emphasizes appropriate skill-mix to address multiple needs within the community. Sustainability indicators should be used which allow personnel to monitor, measure and respond to needs for service design and delivery. A competence framework with associated education and training program, coupled with the development and implementation of a certification framework for AT personnel needs, will promote quality in AT personnel training globally.

The present survey aimed to assess the prevalence and nature of physical disabilities among medical school graduates and to investigate the academic performance of these new physicians with disabilities. A questionnaire was sent to the deans of student affairs of each of the then existing 128 United States and Puerto Rican medical schools, addressing the profiles of students with physical disabilities in the 1987 through 1990 graduating classes. Seventy-seven (60%) United States and Puerto Rican medical schools responded to the questionnaire, of which 67 were able to complete it. A total of 67 students with physical disabilities (40 males and 27 females) were reported. Three of the 67 students were excluded from the study because their conditions did not match our definition of physical disability. The remaining 64 students (38 males and 26 females), ranging from 0 to 10 per school, comprised 0.19% of the 33,138 students who graduated from the 67 medical schools during these 4 academic yr. The disabilities represented by the 64 students encompassed a wide spectrum of etiologies, including neurologic (39%), musculoskeletal (20%), medical-surgical (13%), visual (13%), and auditory (9%) problems. The majority of students with disabilities had above average (36%) to average (48%) academic standings. The actual prevalence of medical students with disabilities might be higher than reported because of the underreporting of the less noticeable types of disabilities.

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Health care reform is upon us, including changes in models of care delivery and physician and institution compensation. The resulting tsunami of uncertainty offers physiatrists the opportunity to relocate to higher ground and help the specialty thrive as well as to identify the possible quagmires into which practices could sink. For this reason, it is prudent for physiatrists to more carefully consider how their professional lives may be altered in the aftermath of reform. We believe that understanding and preparation will facilitate opportunities and mitigate challenges. In this essay, we will discuss various alternative scenarios that represent population health and health care delivery in the year 2032, the real-world opportunities and challenges for the physiatrist in the present and in the next 2 decades, along with ideas as to how physiatry can thrive in the post-health care reform world.