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A dark future...?
We are a sensory team currently going through restructure which will complete in February. All proposed new models have got rid of all posts in relation to sight, hearing and deafblind. The Rehabilitation Posts have had new proposed JD's and are regraded 3 posts lower on a par with support workers as unqualified workers. What is even more scary is that you no longer have to be qualified to do the role and as long as you have " A relevant professional qualification or equivalent in terms of experience" you can do the job; a recognised qualification in rehabilitation is only desirable. Have any other teams/individuals been through restructure and can advise us? Also how can we resolve the issue of mobility training with children and adults? Now anyone can do this role which we feel liability wise is very scary. When challenging management they have just replied by stating that if qualified Rehab workers leave then so be it.
The approach of this particular Local Authority demonstrates an ignorance of rehabilitation and what it can achieve. The need for those with the ear of politicians to step up to the plate and address the issue is now crystal clear.
There are many implications of this stance, not least, legal action in the event of an ‘accident’. Any lawyers out there willing to discuss?

Calling ALL professionals...
A petition exists that attempts to briefly explain the role, need and rationale for Rehabilitation Specialists to Government. We are aware that many of you are politically active however, this may also prompt more of you to become involved. We have attached a link to the e-mail - all we ask is that you to read it and if you feel strongly enough to support it, sign the petition.
Thank you

Passionate plea...
I qualified this year as a ROVI but am dismayed by the fact that i cannot find a job anywhere at all. No one is advertising and also surely someone needs to step up and maybe get the Media involved in order for the public to know what a valuable service we offer. Also i notice when i tell people what i do they reply WHAT...
We have to start shouting and get our profession recognised by those who matter and this then may wake up the Local Authorities to the fact that the reason we aren't known is because we do the job with little fuss maybe we should call ourselves THE SILENT ENABLERS...
Maybe we should organise a protest all ROVI'S together otherwise i fear the job we love will be taking over by other professions who do a weeks training and think putting Bumpons on cookers is all a V.I. needs.
With passion like this, it surely won’t be long before you are employed. We are aware that some Rehab. Specialist positions are being ‘held’ - that could be read as ‘defunct’ - in order to constrain expenditure. The ‘Powers that be’ do require an education about the role.

Do it yourself...
I am thinking of going self employed can anyone advise me what insurance and other bits I will need before marketing myself?
Thanks.
While not in the position of offering this type of advice we can point you towards your local Businesslink team - they can advise you correctly on all aspects of self-employment.

Colour blind...?
On the subject of coloured canes all I have to say is why should blind people expect to have a uniformed coloured white cane? It is all about choice nowadays and I think worrying about what members of the public may think is the least of the problems visually impaired people face from society.
Having a coloured cane has never been an issues for me as visually impaired user and a qualified rehab officer, in fact my many colours of canes have sparked up more awareness and interesting conversations with member of society that would probably not have spoken to me had I had a traditional white cane.
The most important thing about having in a cane is that one is taught to use it correctly and keep themselves safe no matter what colour it is.
I think rehabilitation officers who what to stop this kind of choice should think why they went into rehabilitation in the first place?
This opens a subject we haven’t explored for some years - over to you

Peer review...
The London Rehab Worker Forum have forwarded these notes to RW’s on their email list. The following links are drafts of Local Transport notes from the Shared Surfaces Joint Statement Group - For Response
Shared Use Routes for Pedestrians and Cyclists
Shared Space.
They are the result of a 2 year research project on shared space which the Department for Transport (DfT) commissioned. The drafts have been issued for peer review and are not out for a full consultation.
Guide Dogs will be submitting a response to the peer review.
Those who wish to send their comments to Guide Dogs, please email them to Carol Thomas at carol.thomas@guidedogs.org.uk before the meeting on 28th June.
Please note that comments should be listed and referenced with the paragraph number of the document but not added into the document as comments or track changes, as these will not be accepted by DfT.

Busy, busy, busy...
You can comment on a brief update on recent activity that the SCA Rehabilitation Workers Consultative Network have been working on. There are several documents, most are pdf format - there is one ‘excel’ spreadsheet - click on each to view.
Cover email, Health & Social Care Bill - ROVI-0311, BJOT letter, Copy of ROVI outcomes.
There is a contact e-mail to send your feedback - we strongly suggest you do this.

...not all bad then?
While tales of woe and destruction of sensory teams prevail, a chick of light appears in my authority. We will not only be keeping our sensory team but will be increasing its members. Before I get too dizzy, this may not include having two or three more RW's but we have been told that any new staff will be qualified? Interesting. There is a fly buzzing around that may well decide to dive into the ointment - the plans have to be approved by the senior management. Am I getting too far ahead of myself? I can dream can''t I?
If we gave prizes this message would receive one - positive attitude! Let's hope other LA's look at this authority and ask themselves why don't we do that? We can dream can't we...?

...all too familiar?
I too have been evaluated with the Pay Review. The initial result was that my salary would drop by 20%, after a stage 2 appeal, I have managed to reduce that loss by 3/4. However, I am still short of achieving my goal of getting back to the pay grade I am currently on. I have a stage 3 hearing sometime soon, (to be scheduled), so any advice on how the RO up North managed to achieve such a fantastic result would be gratefully received.

If I could get my current pay grade re-instated, it would help to offset the other losses coming to all the council employees for this council, which is to reduce our terms and conditions, eg 4 days additional annual leave - unpaid - effectively we lose almost a week's pay; and parking charges for those who use their cars to work, no cost of living or incremental rises for 2 years. They say everything goes in circles, but I was hoping that working conditions and employment laws might have been the exception. Seems not.
There doesn’t appear to be any ‘standard’ format for this - each Authority is approaching it differently. Let us know if its happening to you.

Picking up the baton...
I agree with the sentiment that the lack of research in this field is astonishing and, also, worrying. I take some comfort that this lack of research extends to the US, who one might have thought, would be further on in this field. I suspect that the front line workers with a real academic interest (and vested interest - because it affects their future) are necessarily focused on day to day work and that the drive for this has needed to come from the voluntary sector and universities. I think that this era of outcome-focused health and social care has sharpened the mind of all of us and let's hope this situation changes.
I don't think that the lack of research "invalidates" a professional body - a group of professionals that aspire to have better status and recognition need such a body - but I agree the lack of research holds us all back.
As far as the plenary session of course providers at the SCA annual seminar is concerned, I was grateful to the four organisations for agreeing to take part, particularly because scepticism can be disheartening when course providers are doing what they do in good faith. I do feel it was a legitimate exercise because training in this field is a much discussed matter. The apparent similarities in course content across the four providers was notable and, therefore, in a significant sense, reassuring.

The future...?
I have been working as a rehab since the dark ages (1989) and have seen our team (Sensory Impairment Unit) grow into a very professional, enthusiastic and hardworking team. Cuts have been made over the years. We have now gone through another cut and we are down to 2 senior rehabs (myself being one of them). Our job descriptions are to change but we don’t know how and the length of time we spend with our service users may be restricted. We can’t get it through to the upper echelons that long cane training is not something that can have a definite length of time put on it . They are talking about 6 weeks which may be achieved if we see them every day but things don’t work like that. I am now seriously thinking about retirement as there are other changes afoot and they don’t benefit our service users.
Firstly, please don’t retire - there are options for you to continue in the field even if you leave your current employer. This is yet another case that highlights the problem of the absence of a suitable ‘professional body’. Yes, the SCA are accommodating Rehabilitation Workers but they have never seriously got involved in getting the message across to decision makers about what rehabilitation is. We have been down this road before and unfortunately, this has been predicted and indeed, is likely to continue.

Role of RW in Education...
I am training to be a rehabilitation officer at present. I have to do a presentation next month and need to relate the role of an officer to a child's needs at age 11-14. In my area teachers for visually impaired are involved then mobility is dealt with separately. Could you give me advice on a rehab worker's role in mainstream education and how they handle timetable constraints please. It would be great if I could get any input on this.
If you would like to reply - send your response by e-mail to us and it will be published on the website.

Re: Registration across the nation, qualification…
I do not necessarily believe the older qualifications taken in the 90s made for better Rehab Officers. I just believe some of the current courses just do not teach as much, or give them as good a skills base, but put more emphasis on the placement staff to train in their Sensory Team...click to read

Registration across the nation, qualification…
I was looking for a friend of mine (I was really) when I came across that Orthoptists have to register with the Health Professional Council (HPC) in having to adhere to certain guidelines otherwise the person cannot trade under that profession and can be prosecuted, if given the guidelines why don’t our profession be regulated as a number of us wish to be, just like the Social Workers. This shall give us all a little more clout, especially in today’s climate when services and budgets are being cut to save the authority some cash.
Also I hate this, as I feel we are all achieving the same goals, but I think it needs to be mentioned, to indicate the different levels of a Rehabilitation Worker/Officer, whether Certificate, Diploma or Degree trained ROVI and/or having additional qualifications in Low Vision.
Thank you - another e-mail that should get you all going. Differentiating between qualifications…now there’s a box that belongs to Pandora! Over to you…

Pick & Mix…
Have you looked in the RNIB catalogue recently? They are offering a choice of colours when purchasing a symbol, guide or long cane in pink and yellow.
When I rang them they said that they got occasional special requests from mobility officers teaching children. When I pointed out that this was not a reason to offer multicoloured canes to everyone they agreed that, if there were complaints from professionals, they may consider removing this offer in their next catalogue.
As we know, it is difficult enough for the general public to get their head around the meaning of a white cane, never mind a red and white one. What hope to we have for understanding symbols if there are lots of different colours around?
I do think it important people have a choice but in this instance I think confusion will reign. If you feel that we should concentrate on getting the white cane and red and white cane recognised without distraction then I suggest you contact the RNIB with your views.
Thank you for this – it raises many questions and we look forward to the responses. Firstly, have the RNIB ever effectively educated the general public about the White Cane or indeed the Red and White cane? Secondly, the white cane was only introduced because it was easily seen – we now have better reflective materials that can be produced in different colours so this would seem a ‘natural progression’. Incidentally, in Canada a black cane can be used. Should the white cane be the symbol of blindness? Should the cane be a symbol of blindness? Do coloured canes immediately convey that the user has a sight problem? Discuss…

Previous experience required…
We are looking at developing a policy and procedure to provide direct payments for equipment to Visually Impaired people, and would be really grateful for any experiences or pearls of wisdom from Rehab workers around the country who have already been through this process.
We are finding it hard to develop a procedure that fits in with our principles around a non prescriptive approach to which piece of equipment a client has, but which still meets our duty of care to ensure both that needs are met safely and effectively with some element of client choice remaining.
If it were possible for us to get some feedback via Rehabworker.co.uk with regard to the above that would be great.
Thank you for your article – let’s see how other Authorities are operating.
Can clients really make an informed choice without input? Shouldn't the Rehabilitation Specialist be educating the client to enable them to make the choice? In our opinion, Direct Payments only work with adequate support.

Re: ‘T’ Bar
I worked with a lady with a similar difficulty in holding the cane. She continued to use the standard cane handle but with a length foam tube around the handle, and tied on with elastic bands. It was something from a DIY shop which was made to insulate pipes, only about 4" diameter so fitted the cane well.

Re:Enquiry of the month – ‘T’ bar
We have had similar difficulties with people who are unable to use a standard cane. We have worked with Remap who come up with solutions for disabled people who cannot manage standard equipment.
You work closely with the Remap engineer, the service user and the Rehab worker to ensure needs and safety are met. The Long Cane we had adapted had a hinged handle that could be used in horizontal position but 'pop-up' when required.
Look at www.remap.org.uk

Thank you for this, hopefully it will provide an avenue for further exploration

Articles beyond this have been deleted - please send in any points by e-mail for publication

Rehabiliation Specialists have their say!