Documenting environmental factors for preventing the handicap creation process: Quebec contributions relating to ICIDH and social participation of people with functional differences

Abstract

This article presents the conceptual origins and the usefulness of an holistic model, stressing the role of environmental determinants in the performance of day-to-day activities and the fulfilment of social roles by persons with disabilities. The Quebec Committee on ICIDH contribution to the development of knowledge on the clarification of the relationship of disabled individual-environment and the understanding of the handicap creation process in relation with ICIDH experimentations is presented. Finally, on the basis of anthropological social research conducted in Quebec, the article illustrates a methodology for environmental analysis of the handicap situations of disabled clients in rehabilitation and social integration support programmes.

Facilitators and barriers of stroke survivors in the early post-stroke phase

“…Eight categories belong to the chapter 'products and technology', three categories to 'natural environment and human-made changes to environment', seven categories to 'support and relationships', nine categories to 'attitudes' and 10 categories to 'services, systems and policies'. The qualifier scale proposed by the WHO [5] was used to evaluate the extent of facilitators or barriers in the person's environment. The proposed scale has nine response categories ranging from 74 to þ4: a mild/ moderate/severe/complete barrier (71 to 74), a mild/moderate/substantial/complete facilitator (1 to 4), or no influence (0) on the patient's life.…”

“…Traditionally, most interventions focus on functional recovery and often do not consider the need for a return to life in the community and the ability to participate in life in a fulfilling way [2]. Because disability is viewed today in terms of the interaction between the individual and the environment [3][4][5], knowledge of environmental factors as facilitators or barriers is necessary to decelerate the disability creation process and accelerate the rehabilitation of patients. However, there is still little emphasis on the environment as a domain of intervention [6].…”

A Discussion of the Use of Virtual Reality in Dementia

“…Three interacting domains are used to describe the lived experience of individuals with functional limitations in creating successful engagement in life activities. The first domain, personal factors, includes organic systems and capabilities, which, together, entail all components of the human body that interrelate with the individuals' potential to perform mental or physical tasks; it also includes other variables such as age, sex and socio-cultural identity [10]. In the case of dementia, this domain would include the pathophysiological changes to the brain as well as their consequences on processes such as perception, memory and language.…”

“…communication problems) interact with environmental factors (e.g. negative attitudes) that are non-facilitating [10]. Three interacting domains are used to describe the lived experience of individuals with functional limitations in creating successful engagement in life activities.…”

Designing from a Disabled Body: The Case of Architect Marta Bordas Eddy

“…The definition of disability used to be dominated by a medical discourse, and only recently shifted towards stressing the role of environmental determinants in performing day-to-day activities and fulfilling social roles [17]. This "social model of disability" conceptually distinguishes between disability and impairment [18], placing the explanation of its changing character in the organization of society [19], including the spaces and technologies that shape this organization.…”