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EDITOR'S PAGE


During the past few years, many newsletters dealing with different forms of non-institutional rehabilitation have been available to readers in India. The most commonest theme disseminated through these newsletters was `CBR', the UN promoted rehabilitation programme, suggested as the suitable one for developing countries. The other common themes were, `rights of disabled people', situation analysis of disability in the country, common impediments to the progress of rehabilitation, descriptions of inadequacy of institution based methodologies, and self-promotional articles about a large number of rehabilitation programmes. There were very few articles about different methods used for interventions, transfer of skills to the families of disabled persons, different innovations in administrative styles, and failed experiments in rehabilitation. Similarly there was little interest in themes such as cost-efficiency and cost-benefit analysis, documentation, monitoring and evaluation, though these areas are very useful for the average rehabilitation practitioner. The authors from the governmental and non-governmental sectors could seldom present an article in an academic journal, because they could not reach the standards of academic peer-review in their methodology, even if they had a valid message to communicate. At the same time they could not publish them in the newsletters, which usually published self-promotional articles or popular themes. In most instances, an author would find it extremely difficult to publish details of a failed experiment, even though such a study might be of most benefit to readers.

In order to address some of these lacunae, and to widely disseminate the important information that is often of less than academic standards, a `Friday meeting' was initiated two years ago. Every year six such meetings were conducted with the participants debating different aspects of intervention and administration of non-institutional forms of rehabilitation. The data generated out of these participatory discussions are now being summarised and disseminated through the `Friday Meeting Transactions'. This newsletter also devotes some space for other articles relevant to planners and practitioners of rehabilitation. The articles in this newsletter differ from those published in academic journals in many ways such as the absence of references, standard styles of writing and peer-review before publication. However, they have to deal with analytical reasoning and advancing knowledge levels, rather than being promotional in nature. They will be edited to avoid redundancies and to reduce their length. The author's opinions will be retained, even if they differ from the editor's.

The newsletter is for private circulation, and will be mailed free of cost to those who request for it from India, provided a viable number of requests are made. A survey of readership carried out by Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal suggests that approximately one thousand people in India may now be the consumers for a technical publication that deals with non-institutional forms of rehabilitation. This is a small number, which is likely to increase as the need for technical inputs increase in this field.

Since this first issue is also a sample to identify consumer preferences, a feed-back questionnaire is inserted in this issue for the readers. It is hoped that a quick response to this feed-back questionnaire will be available from most of the readers. If it is found that there is sufficient demand for the newsletter from India, and it is continued, the contents may also be made available on a website for international readers, some time in the future.



EDITOR
Dr. Maya Thomas

DESK EDITOR
Ms. Nina Agtey

TECHNICAL ADVISOR
Dr. M.J. Thomas
DO YOU WANT THIS NEWSLETTER ?
This newsletter is useful for trainers and policy makers.
This newsletter is only for private circulation and is mailed free of cost to readers in India, only on formal request.
If you want to receive it, please write, giving your name, address, telephone and fax number, and E-mail address to :
Dr. Maya Thomas, Editor
J-124, Ushas Apts, 16th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560 011, India
Tel and fax : 91-80-6633762
Email : thomasmaya@hotmail.com
DO YOU WANT TO WRITE IN THIS NEWSLETTER ?
This newsletter will publish analytical articles useful for trainers and policy makers. The opinions expressed in thisnews letter are of the authors only and not necessarily of the producers. If you wish to publish such articles, please send two copies to :
Dr. Maya Thomas, Editor
J-124, Ushas Apts, 16th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560 011, India
Tel and fax : 91-80-6633762
Email : thomasmaya@hotmail.com



Dr. Maya Thomas & Dr. M J Thomas
J-124, Ushas Apts, 16th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560 011, India
Tel and fax : 91-80-6633762
Email : thomasmaya@hotmail.com

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