Community Based Rehabilitation: Information Accumulation & Exchange. South Asian Research Notes.

This paper reviews research and evaluates information gathered on disabilities and service development in South Asia, especially India and Pakistan. The concept of "community-based rehabilitation" (CBR), which stresses the need for rehabilitation efforts rooted in the context of local cultural concepts, is discussed. The paper emphasizes the necessity of integrating philosophical and anthropological perspectives into disability information development and community-based rehabilitation programs. The paper recommends rehabilitation efforts that incorporate indigenous disability-related practices, such as casual educational integration, and that integrate local concepts of the child, personhood, ability, disability, and relationships. A review of South Asian information resources, especially those concerning mental retardation, suggests the difficulty of developing indigenous knowledge production when Western material is easily accessible. The historical development of some Asian and European community responses to disability is outlined as background for a description of the rise of CBR programs in India and Pakistan during the 1980s. Among issues discussed are CBR training, information technology, program evaluation, and the roles of foreign rehabilitation professionals and aid and development organizations. (Contains 247 references.) (DB)