Activating disabled people

6 One example of those reports was a series of articles published by the daily tabloid Der BUcK on the lives of Swiss invalidity benefit recipients who live in Thailand and display no sign of physical or psychological impairment to work (see Der Blick, 18.05.2006). 

---

Exit or activation for early retirees and disabled people ... 

Robots in their essence have the purpose to replace human labor, not only in industrial applicatiOTis but also in other human activities. There are many applicaticHis connected to robotics, as for example in medicine, rescue operations, research, aiding the disabled people, etc. In order to fulfill the requirements of everyday life, robotic systems are inevitably becoming more and more sophisticated. The level of complexity demands novel or different research perspectives to be considered. 

Most people experience pain at some time in their lives, and pain is a symptom of a variety of diseases. For some, pain may be mild to moderate, intermittent, easily managed, and has minimal effect on daily activities. For others, pain may be chronic, severe or disabling, all consuming, and be treatment resistant. Thus, identifying the exact prevalence of pain is a difficult task. According to the American Pain Foundation, more than 50 million people in the United States suffer from... 

Depression. Depression is our most common mental problem. One in four women and one in ten men will have a major depression during their lifetime.1095 More than 15 million people in the United States are affected by severe depression in any given year and more than 30,000 may commit suicide.1096 1097 Worldwide psychiatric problems, mostly depression, account for 28% of all disabilities.1098 The biogenic amine hypothesis states that depression results from the depletion of neurotransmitters in the areas of the brain involved in sleep, arousal, appetite, sex drive, and psychomotor activity. An excess of transmitters is proposed to give rise to the manic phase of the bipolar (manic-depressive) cycle that is sometimes observed. In support of this hypothesis is the observation that administration of reserpine precipitates depression, which may be serious in 15-20% of hypertensive patients receiving the drug. Similar effects are observed with the dopa decarboxylase inhibitor a-methyldopa... 

Center for Disability Issues and the Health Professions. Emergency Evacuation Preparedness Taking Responsibility For Your Safety—A Guide for People With Disabilities and Other Activity Limitation. Visit www.cdihp. org/evacuationpdf.htm. 

People with disabilities, even severe ones, can be quite active. Thus it is better to say President Franklin Roosevelt used a wheelchair and occasionally walked using braces and crutches rather than he was confined to a wheelchair , or the wheelchair-bound President , or the President was in a wheelchair . 

The mortality of COPD is significant however, morbidity associated with the disease has significant impact on patients, their families, and the health care system. COPD represents the second leading cause of disability in the United States. Individuals with COPD have approximately double the number of hospital stays, days of restricted activity, and days of being confined to bed compared with people... 

Chronologically the concept of activation policies was first utilized for the unemployed (unemployment insurance benefit), followed by the people on welfare, only to be recently followed (WIA Act) by the people on disability or incapacity benefits. 

In 2000 a new active measure of service jobs in the public sector was introduced for unemployed over the age of 48 who had been in the active period for more than 6 months and for people on disability pension. This scheme has now been abolished. 

---