Page 19 - Mobility Management, August/September 2020

waste of time, and it’s expensive: “If you really want to know how to do this profession, just follow me for a couple of years until I decide you’re qualified.”
This is a way that brings the two together: You can be working four hours a day in a practice. Obviously, you’re not doing what the certified, licensed people are doing. But you’re helping; you’re like an apprentice. At the same time, you’re getting the why and the what of the profes- sion. I’m a big supporter of how we’ve trained ATPs in
the past: You were a technician, and you moved up the ranks. I think there’s a lot of value in that.
But a lot of the theoretical stuff is missing, like under- standing disability. With the 30th anniversary of the ADA, there’s been a lot of podcasts, and people have said
to me, “I never realized historically how difficult things have been for people with disabilities.” So if you’ve
got an angry customer, just think about what they’ve been through. They may be a little aggressive with you because that’s all they know, and they’ve had to fight. These are probably things you can learn on the job, but you may not be fully understanding it on the job,
depending on where you are and who you’re working for. MM: A master’s degree program is tangible evidence that CRT is providing training with a defined curriculum?
Mark Schmeler: Imagine you’re sitting in rounds at a hospital or a rehab center, a community-based program or a school district. You’re sitting at the table with other professionals: physicians, therapists, special-ed teachers, psychologists.
You are one of the disciplines at the table. You’re not just the guy who sells wheelchairs or durable medical equipment. You do have some of the foundational training that everyone else has.
Our master’s is understanding the functional medical aspects of disability. It’s taking a whole class just on ethics. Let’s take a look at the RESNA code of ethics, which is not much different than any other professional code of ethics. They all say the same thing: Do no harm. But we’re putting it into case examples so that if they’re out in the field and they’re tempted by a situation, or if they have a boss that’s pushing them to do a certain
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