Rehabilitation of Individuals With Disabilities

People with disabilities meet more barriers and difficulties, when they start fighting addiction. In many cases addiction is justified by advocates for treatment, which assumes consumption of medical drugs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides the list of factors, which contribute to the development of drug addiction among disabled population. These factors include:Rehabilitation of Individuals With Disabilities

A greater potential for misusing prescription medications.
Physical pain and limited mobility related to a disability.
Enabling by care providers, families and communities.
Lack of accessible prevention and treatment services” (US Department of Health and Human Services).
In addition those, who have different kinds of spinal cord injuries fall in the category of additional risks, because the use of drugs or alcohol may cause additional damage of heart, liver, kidney and brain. Rehabilitation of Individuals With Disabilities

Statistics on addiction among disabled patients illustrates that the problem is serious. According to the information, provided by Office of Disability, “10% of adults in the disabled population are affected by alcohol, and 5% have problems with drugs, which is greater than that of the non-disabled population” (ODS).

The problem needs careful study and investigation. From the one hand disabled people deserve an adequate treatment and they have access to pain relivers, in the case when no other methods are available. At the same time, it often becomes difficult to define the degree of pain they experience and this way it becomes difficult to distinguish possible lies and manipulation. Psychological aspect becomes of primary importance when it comes to addiction among people with disability. In many cases addiction becomes their coping mechanism, when they are left alone with their problems. Lack of information about drug or alcohol rehabilitation makes another important problem. In some cases, people with different kinds of disabilities have no physical access to support groups and to literature on rehabilitation. Rehabilitation of Individuals With Disabilities