OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
ACROSS SOUTH AMERICA
VAGNER DOS SANTOS
UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA, BRAZIL
UNB, BRAZIL
AIMS
• Contextualize South America
• Provide some figures of disability in the region
• Share an overview of Occupational therapy within the
region
UNB, BRAZIL
SOUTH AMERICA
SOUTH AMERICA
UNB, BRAZIL
• Countries
• 12 Countries
• Demographics
• Population of nearly 400 million inhabitants
•
•
•
Brazil has almost 200 million inhabitants
Guyana has less than 1 million inhabitants
From Rural villages to Megacities
• Large scope of languages and cultures
UNB, BRAZIL
SOUTH AMERICA
São Paulo, Brazil. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/São_Paulo
UNB, BRAZIL
SOUTH AMERICA
Bellavista – Pachas, Peru. Source: http://www.pueblosdelperu.org/foto/1278062
SOUTH AMERICA
UNB, BRAZIL
• Social - Economic – Political
• Commons elements
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•
•
Large Inequalities
History of racism
Violence (from structural to everyday violence)
•
Political Shifts (Social Change)
• Rise and fall of military dictatorships
• ‘Turn to the left’
• Implementation of redistributive policies
DISABILITY IN
SOUTH AMERICA
UNB, BRAZIL
• Statistics – Methodological Issues
• Estimates indicate that at least 10% of the region’s
population has some disability (The World Bank, 2004).
• In Brazil, there are higher estimates: 24% of the population
(approximately 45.6 million) has some form of disability
(IBGE, 2010).
• Social Exclusion
• Cycle of Poverty and Disability (The World Bank, 2004; 2011)
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•
Disability as cause and consequence of poverty.
About 82% of disabled people live under poverty.
• Caregivers and family members are also affected.
DISABILITY IN
SOUTH AMERICA
UNB, BRAZIL
• Education
• Poor attendance due to lack of:
•
•
adequate transportation and access to school
infrastructure
teacher training and learning materials
• Employment
• Most disabled are outside the work force
UNB, BRAZIL
Source: The World Bank, 2011
DISABILITY IN
SOUTH AMERICA
REHABILITATION:
UNB, BRAZIL
WHAT FOR?
FOR WHOM?
HOW TO DO?
• Poverty and disability
• What are the aims and the limits of rehabilitation in the
context of poverty?
• Intersectioralities
• How to overcome the biomedical model of rehabilitation?
• Cultural constructions of disability & Colonialism
• Which forms of engagement are needed to decolonize
(theory and practice)
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY
UNB, BRAZIL
• Occupational therapy’s history in South America
• 50’s, 60’s and 70’s: process of implementation
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•
International and national collaboration
Influence of Northern Frameworks
• (which to some extent last until nowadays)
• 80’s and 90’s: transitions towards more local and regional
identities of occupational therapy
•
•
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Ruptures from mainstream OT
Integrate humans rights into OT practice
Engagement with political action
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY
UNB, BRAZIL
• During XXI Century Occupational Therapy has expanded
and grown
• According to WFOT (2014) the region has had a
substantive percentage increase in the number of
occupational therapists from 2006 to 2014
•
•
Argentina: 182%
Brazil: 119%
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY
UNB, BRAZIL
• Contemporary issues of occupational therapy across the
region
• Develop and implement new training programs that:
•
•
•
Overcome the medical model
Engage with local / regional realities
Explore the meanings of disability and individual
experience and integrate with educational programs
• Mass concentration of OT’s in Metropolitan areas:
•
•
Decentralization of human resources
Learn about diversity of human presence and everyday life
across the region
UNB, BRAZIL
TO SUM
• South America is a region of diversity, but there are
common elements.
• To overcome poverty, inequality, racism, structural and
everyday violence are among the most pressing
challenges (prevent disabilities).
• Assure social inclusion. The exclusion of people with
disability has been a major impact into our societies.
• Occupational therapy has the challenge to understand the
realities of those living with disability. This includes also
social, political, economic aspects of everyday life, which
have been historically neglected in rehab.
• OT has to develop a coherent and relevant practice.
UNB, BRAZIL
Thank you!
Further questions/comments and list of references:
vagner@unb.br