II.

Medical Services

Because disabilities are often the consequence of accident, disease, or a congenital condition, rehabilitation begins with intervention and appropriate medical services. Surgery might be required, for instance, to correct a heart problem. In other cases, treatment is supportive and designed, for example, to reduce the effects of arthritis, to restore function lost as the result of a stroke, to treat the motor disorders of cerebral palsy, to decrease seizures from epilepsy, to minimize the effects of pulmonary disease, to retrain persons with speech disorders, to assist the deaf in lipreading or the proper perception of sound through hearing aids, or to teach the blind to read the Braille System.

Appropriate prosthetic devices (see Prosthetics) must also be furnished; these include artificial limbs for amputees, wheelchairs for people with paralysis of their legs, and crutches or braces for those with some ability to walk. Training might be required for persons to use these devices effectively.