Health Care Advocacy
Polio survivors, as well as those from other disability communities, require life-long intermittent medical intervention. Often, people with chronic disabilities have the dual challenge of managing their complex conditions while also negotiating innumerable obstacles to accessing quality health care.
Current health care reimbursement structures are essentially acute-care treatment frameworks and are not designed to meet the long-term care needs of people with chronic or progressive disabilities. "Keeping America Sick," a health care advocacy essay by Reji Mathew, PhD, polio survivor, outlines a few of the political and systemic challenges that disabled individuals contend with when accessing care.
Dr. Mathew is a psychotherapist and clinical instructor at New York University. She is also a freelance writer. Her advocacy work raises awareness among media, health care providers, and the public regarding the long- term health care needs of persons with paralysis, neurological and progressive medical conditions.
Mathew has a website and blog dedicated to the topics of health care advocacy, coping skills education, intermittent medical rehabilitation for chronic conditions, and the role of the expressive arts in fostering emotional resilience.
See her monthly column at Advance for Occupational Therapy Practitioners, exploring the psychological dynamics of recovery and rehabilitation. PHI community members can download these articles as a resource in advocating for comprehensive care with individual practitioners. Each column has links to corresponding organizations and resources.
