EDITOR'S COMMENT
Different non-institutional forms of rehabilitation practices have been in vogue for quite some years, even before the promotion of CBR by WHO, which however gave it a sudden momentum. In the last two decades, while the developing countries were practising a form of decentralised system of service delivery located in the community, the western models were struggling to obtain consumer rights for the disabled persons in rehabilitation interventions. At the same time the WHO was hard pressed to prove that CBR worked and that it satisfied the requirements of diverse groups that had different expectations from this newly promoted method.
The literature on CBR has been evolving through these changing phases, according to the necessities of time. Initially the literature came primarily from the west, in the form of books or lay periodicals, to arouse the interest of others in this new form of intervention. By the late eighties and nineties authors from developing countries started writing in many news letters on the subject, along with others from the west. They shared their experiences, often very subjectively, and expressed their opinions in extremes. The second half of the nineties has already begun to see further changes in the type of literature that is available on non-institutional rehabilitation practices. Firstly, these publications are more widely read, and also carry contributions authored by academicians, policy makers and practitioners. Secondly, they are being disseminated through peer reviewed journals and websites. Thirdly, there has been a gradual qualitative change in the style of writing, from opinions based on experiences to objective reports of events, and conclusions based on facts, bringing them closer to scientific literature. The current literature has also been questioning the validity of many hypotheses, which in itself is a welcome change. However, there is still a long way to go before subjectivity is replaced by objectivity, qualitative opinions give way to quantitative facts, ill defined results are replaced with results which are clearly defined and sound methodology gets incorporated in the research plan. However, it is expected that in the near future one will be able to read literature on this topic that stands to peer review without difficulty, and is presented by different kinds of authors, such as academicians, practitioners, policy makers and so on.
The Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal is one of the few journals published from this region and shares the platform with others such as Asia Pacific Journal on Disability and so on. The Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal is mailed to approximately seventy two countries all over the world, free of cost, at the readers' request, and is now placed on the website. It has an international editorial board, and authors from different professions who hail from different countries, and write primarily on the theme of non-institutional rehabilitation programmes from developing countries. In order to provide better access to literature for readers from developing countries, the journal has been deliberately kept free of cost and copy right. However, there have been delays in publication of the articles submitted, because of the low frequency of publication and the policy to encourage non-academic publications at the same level as that of the academic publications, provided they reach the standards set by the peers who review them. This policy results in the editorial team having to spend more time with some articles and their authors to present them in a more readable way, and in a format that fits with the style of the journal. The journal is divided into different sections to suit the needs of the diverse groups of readers and authors. The section on original articles presents peer reviewed original articles, while the section on developmental articles deals with thematic reviews and clarification of concepts that are found acceptable to peers. The letters to the editor document information on many unique experiments and experiences that may otherwise remain unrecorded and lost because of the less than scientific methodology used in them. These letters may help to further creativity in this field.
The present time is critical for CBR and other similar forms of non-institutional rehabilitation services to prove their validity after the past two decades of practice. They need however, to express their conclusions logically, based on facts that are elicited through observations using accurate methodology, rather than on subjective presumptions.
DR. MAYA THOMAS
Editor, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal,
J-124 Ushas Apts, 16th Main, 4th Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560 011, India.
Tel and fax : 91-80-6633762, Email : thomasmaya@hotmail.com
ASIA PACIFIC DISABILITY REHABILITATION JOURNAL (VOL.9, NO.2, 1998)
Produced by:
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Address for correspondence :
DR. MAYA THOMAS, EDITOR
ASIA PACIFIC DISABILITY REHABILITATION JOURNAL
J-124, Ushas Apts, 16th Main, 4th Block
Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560011, India
Ph : 91-80-6633762 Fax : 91-80-6633762
Email : thomasmaya@hotmail.com