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The defining moment that changed how I thought about patient advocacy as a PT didn't happen in a big conference room. It didn't happen under the bright lights of a federal or state legislature, or behind a podium.

It happened in my clinic, quietly, at the end of a session. A patient stood up, looked toward the door, and said, "Ben, you're getting me stronger with all our hard work together. But out there, the neighborhood is still too hard to move through safely."

She was talking about the sidewalk.

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