The purpose of this book is to provide public health disability and rehabilitation
professionals and practitioners evidence-based science with respect to health disparities faced
by people with disabilities especially people with mobility limitations alternative methods
of rehabilitation and exercise science for this population assistive device technology and
improved access to health care employment and social participation.According to the National
Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
approximately 57 million Americans live with a disability. Disability severity and types vary
considerably such that each individual with a disability faces unique physical social and
environmental barriers in order to enjoy quality of life and full participation in society. A
large research literature shows that people with disabilities face substantial employment and
health disparities compared to people without disabilities. People with mobility limitations
often experience secondary conditions to compound their primary disability. Hollar (2013) and
Hollar and Lewis (2015) showed that people with mobility limitations were significantly more
likely to experience obesity and lack of access to physical exercise. Other studies have shown
that access to proper physical examination facilities and equipment remain a substantial
barrier in many clinics and hospitals despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities
Act 25 years ago. Research on alternative exercise programs and new assistive device
technologies offers promise to improve physical functioning and exercise for people with
mobility limitations. Furthermore increased focus on biopsychosocial over traditional medical
models for disability will help policymakers and the public to recognize the complex
contextual issues (e.g. personal social environmental) that affect the lives of people with
disabilities. Readership includes public health practitioners and educators disability and
rehabilitation researchers clinicians and sports medicine practitioners and disability
advocates. There have been general handbooks on disability but advances in technology and
alternative exercise programs as well as novel disability health programs are dispersed in
the research literature. This book will help to highlight these programs for health policy
experts especially given the high health and social disparities experienced by this
population.
