Affiliations: Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4. Tel.: +1 403 220 5827; Fax: +1 403 282 9298; E-mail: stebbins@ucalgary.ca
Abstract: Leisure as a tool for rehabilitating people with neuro-disabilities is well established. Yet, despite significant progress in this area, problems remain in the way leisure is used for this purpose. One, as yet, unresolved problem is how to determine which leisure activity or activities will be attractive to people with particular disabilities. Another is how to counteract the persistent, dominant public view that real personal worth is measured according to the work people do rather than the leisure they pursue. The third is to inform practitioners, many of whom are unaware of recent advances in leisure theory, about these advances, which can help them solve the first problem and adapt to the second. The main body of this paper presents such a theory – the serious leisure perspective. It synthesizes three main forms of leisure, showing, at once, their distinctive features, similarities, and interrelationships. The forms are serious, casual, and project-based leisure. A review of the research on neuro-rehabilitation follows. Some implications of the Perspective for neuro-rehabilitation are then presented, including ways practitioners can introduce clients to certain types of leisure, encourage them to pursue the types chosen, and help them develop an optimal leisure lifestyle.
