What is Rehabilitation: Rehabilitative non-profit organizations are part of the human service branch of the non-profit community. They are typically funded by governments and taxpayers to provide services to folks with a range of physical or intellectual disabilities and they often receive a small portion of their operating expenses via fundraising activities which subsidize the organization.
Although commonly known as rehab. agencies, many of the people who receive services will never be 'rehabilitated' because of the permanent and life-long nature of their disability.
Services Offered: Services typically include supports to enable individuals to participate in society along with able-bodied and able-minded citizens, thereby decreasing the feelings of isolation and exclusion persons with disabilities can experience. Supports can be physical (ramps, wheelchairs, technology such as speech recognition etc.) or human (people to accompany them to community functions, support them to obtain and maintain employment, attend leisure, religious or recreational activities, or allow them to be mobile in their own homes). There are also varying degrees of skill required of caregivers, including personal expertise, the ability to administer complex medical interventions, lift and carry heavy people and equipment, and the ability to manage complex and unanticipated behaviors or situations.
Staff Services: As with other non-profits, employees in the rehab sector have a range of job descriptions, and possess vast arrays of educational preparation and technological understanding to do their jobs. Altruism and people skills are commonly cited as a typical character traits of people choosing to work for non-profit organizations, while technical skills are stereotypically absent. Here is a clip which gives you an idea of the type of services staff in rehab non-profits deliver to others: