The word "client," as opposed to "consumer," should continue to be used to describe persons served by rehabilitation professionals. Although the word "consumer" has begun to appear in the rehabilitation literature as an alternative to "client," the term "consumer" does not adequately define the professional relationship between the one advising (the rehabilitation professional) and the recipient of the advice.
Kenneth R. Thomas' (1993) response to Dr. Nosek's charge-- that use of the word "client" connotes that individuals served are assumed by professionals to have neither the ability nor the interest to act on their own--is a well-written rebuttal to Nosek's charges (p. 11). Nosek had based her charges on one Webster's definition for client. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary offers other definitions for client: "(1) one that is under the protection of another; (2) a person who engages the professional advice or services of another; and (3) a person served by, or utilizing the services of, a social agency" (1983, p. 248).
Apparently the different editions of Webster's account for the different wordings of definitions. Webster's 1983 definition in the Ninth New Collegiate version offers a first (most common) definition in which the word "protection" is prominent. Perhaps it is this role of rehabilitation professional as protector that Nosek finds so irritating. Nevertheless, if one assumes that rehabilitation specialists are professionals, and by their own assessment they are professionals, then the term "professional" defines a trusting, protective, relationship.
A profession is a white-collar occupation with high social prestige that requires considerable formal education. In addition, a profession must contain the following four characteristics (Macionis, 1989, p. 503): (1) theoretical knowledge; (2) self-regulated training and practice; (3) authority over clients; and (4) orientation to community rather tha...