Federal Rehabilitation Council (BAR) - Federal Republic of Germany

Source: Federal Rehabilitation Council, BAR

BAR involves all statutory insurance associations of health, accident, invalidity, pension, and unemployment together with the social assistance and war-victims' care administrations, the states of federal Germany, the self-administrative bodies of the German physicians, and, the workers' and employers' organizations. This representation is aimed at the coordination and improvement of all measures concerning medical, educational, vocational and social rehabilitation in Germany.

In the manifold German social security system, assuring and granting this personal right to rehabilitation is the responsibility of a broad range of agencies. All individual measures to be planned and implemented require the cooperation of various professionals, facilities, and community-based services like rehabilitation hospitals, education services, vocational rehabilitation centres, and the counselling services of disability or self-help organizations.

The BAR has the statutory (Satzung der Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation) task to work out the necessary regulations and standards for this cooperation and coordination, to monitor the process, and to oversee all quantity and quality aspects of rehabilitation developments in Germany. The statutory object and concern of BAR is to contribute to the accomplishment of rehabilitation achievements according to the principle of equal well-being of persons with disabilities and chronically ill persons.

From the focal tasks defined in the statute, a number of other tasks has emerged:

• Exchange of experience and co-operation between all institutions participating in the rehabilitation;
• Elaboration of the contents, structure and concepts of rehabilitation;
• Statements of social policy concerning rehabilitation;
• Advice and information services for BAR members in all rehabilitation matters;
• Advice and information on the rehabilitation policy, administration and publicity in order to promote the intrests of persons with disabilities and chronically ill persons, and to promote the understanding of their problems.
• Proposals and initiatives on administrate agreements;
• Futher training for the BAR members in rehabilitation matters;
• Promotion of the technical exchange between research, education and practice;
• Information and guidance to the public on rehabilitation possibilities.

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