I was asked to do research on our IARP-WI history, and since I just fully retired, it has been an interesting and fun project. I had a chance to contact some of our original members, and look back at what has happened in the last 40+ years.
The executive director of IARP, Mr. Carl Wangman, sent me an article on IARP history indicating it was first incorporated in 1981 as the National Association of Rehabilitation Professional in the Private Sector (NARPPS). It’s roots were in the private rehabilitation movement that started in the 60’s and 70’s. A couple decades later, a name change was made to IARP (International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals) to more accurately reflect “the evolving characteristics of IARP membership to include both public and private sector practitioners domestically and internationally”. Today, IARP membership is comprised of approximately 2500 members.
In Wisconsin, the first association for private sector rehab professionals was WARPPS (Wisconsin Association of Rehabilitation Professional in the Private Sector). Although the name was a take-off from the national organization, WARPPS stayed as an independent organization until 2007, when it became an official state chapter of IARP.
When did WARPPS/IARP-WI start? No one is quite sure! A good guess is the early 1990s. Some early board members included Dianne Briggs, Jeanne Krizan, Karen Shultheis, John Meltzer and our long time treasurer, Tom Stone. I’m sure I left out a few key names. Tom Stone recalls joining in about 1995, and although he is happily retired and raising golden retriever puppies, we may be able to talk him into showing up at one of our future seminars. Before the advent of conference calls, many of us recall doing road trips to connect with others for board meetings.
Before IARP, there was the National Rehabilitation Association (NRA), organized in 1925. I have a copy of the NRA Journal of Rehabilitation from February 1972 that says NRA welcomes “professional workers in all phases of rehabilitation—state and federal employees, physicians, nurses, psychologists, occupational, physical and speech therapists, social workers, hospital and rehabilitation facility personnel, specialists for the blind, the deaf, the crippled—and others who desire to express in this way their interests in the problems of the handicapped.” Membership dues were $15.00/year with a student membership at $6.00/year. There were a number of NRA divisions, with the closest one to a private focus being the “National Association of Disability Examiners” (NADE) which I suspect included mostly Social Security evaluators. A large division at that time was the “National Association of Rehabilitation Secretaries (NARS)” This was an era (pre-computers) when more of the counseling was done by counselors, and more of the paperwork was done by secretaries. Both NADE and NARS are long gone.
The state chapter of NRA is our sister organization, WRA (Wisconsin Rehabilitation Association). WRA has been in existence since at least the late 1960’s. Early on, WRA was so large that it had 4 subdivisions around the state! I was on the board, and president one year of SWRA (Southwest Wisconsin Rehabilitation Association) that served the Madison area corner of the state. We would have 2-4 programs per year, along with a picnic.
Perhaps the high water mark for attendance for rehab professional organizations was the late 1970’s. The 1979 WRA conference at the Telemark Lodge in Cable Wisconsin drew something like 450 attendees. Just our local division, SWRA, had some programs that drew over 100 attendees. Although the programs were interesting, and there were a few chasing CRC credits, there was the party and networking afterwards. It was the place to be, and the thing to do. I recall, painfully, a program in February, 1977 where our SWRA board got a great deal on wine in boxes. It was cheap and tasty, but well, just bad… We had 100+ people come to the top of the Waisman Center at UW Madison for the usual festive wine and cheese get-together afterwards, and there some sick call-ins the next day! Fortunately there were no law suits or employers complaining (because they were there too). But, to this day, I will never drink wine out of a box…
So why did attendance and membership seem so much better then than now? Part of it was structural: there were fewer niches, and everyone, public, private, rehab facility, state, VA, etc. all ended up at the same place. The 70’s and years after were also pre-digital: no computers, cell phones, texting, etc. If you wanted professional development, knowledge of new trends, or contact with others, you had to go out and find it.
Today, it is as important as ever to support the professional associations we belong to, and the hard work our current IARP-WI board is doing. This is how we continue our professional development, network with others, and maintain our identity. If you have not served on the board yet, please consider taking your turn.
Besides being fun, it is still the thing to do, and the place to be.