[Demands for a new, patient oriented rehabilitation]

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation medicine
• Social policy
• Disability studies

Background:

• New rehabilitation orientation in Germany driven by social political initiatives.
• Inspired by European and German self-help movements.
• Focus on participation and partnership for citizens with disabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the new rehabilitation framework in Germany based on "Nothing about us without us".
• To describe the legislative empowerment through personal budgets.
• To detail the codified rights in the German Social Code Book IX (SGB IX).

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the legislative framework (Sozialgesetzbuch IX, SGB IX).
• Identification of key principles for disabled persons' participation.
• Review of empowerment strategies and resource allocation.

Main Results:

• Codification of new rights in SGB IX, emphasizing disabled persons' active role.
• Implementation of personal budgets for empowerment.
• Guaranteed rights to self-assessment, goal setting, process control, discharge, and quality evaluation.
• Right to medical information access (informational independence).

Conclusions:

• The new SGB IX represents a significant shift towards participatory rehabilitation in Germany.
• Empowerment and co-determination are central to the new rehabilitation paradigm.
• Seven guidelines support the implementation of these new rehabilitation rights.