50th anniversary of the Institute on Rehabilitation Issues - vocational rehabilitation for the disabled - Streamlining Service Delivery

American Rehabilitation,  Summer, 1997  by Charles Sadler

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

The 50th Anniversary forum of the Institute on Rehabilitation Issues (IRI) was held at the Washington Marriott Metro Center in Washington, DC, on June 1-3, 1997, with approximately 150 people from across the country and overseas attending, including vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals, advocates, persons with disabilities, educators, and employers.

Fredric K. Schroeder, Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and Ms. Jeanne Munro, current Director of the Washington Division of Rehabilitation Services and President of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) at the time of the forum, greeted the attendees and emphasized the strong state-federal partnership that characterizes the public VR program and the need for IRI to present cutting edge solutions to the challenges facing people with disabilities in achieving meaningful employment and community integration. After the opening session, the three prime study groups convened to present their draft documents on the following topics: "Improving the Achievement of Employment Outcomes," "Developing Effective Partnerships With Employers as a Service Delivery Mechanism," and "Assuring an Outstanding Public Vocational Rehabilitation Program in the 21st Century--Eliminating Barriers to Effective Service Delivery," a topic which directly impacts the streamlining initiative. (A brief summary of the publications and information on how to order copies may be found at the end of this article.)

During the evening of the first day of the Institute, the participants attended a reception to celebrate its 50th anniversary. In addition, a luncheon was held to close the IRI forum, at which time the university coordinators, chairpersons, and prime study group members were honored for their efforts in the development of IRI publications. Dr. Ralph Pacinelli, RSA Regional Commissioner, served as master of ceremonies and commended the awardees for devoting a substantial amount of time and energy to the IRI process, in addition to their normal workload, and for contributing to the development of publications widely used in training VR program staff.

During the IRI Planning Committee meeting on June 1, the following topics and university coordinators were selected for study during the upcoming 24th IRI cycle: "Field Service Managers and Supervisors: Strategic Leaders in Achieving Employment Outcomes," Dr. Donald Dew, George Washington University; "Achieving Successful Employment Outcomes with the Use of Technology," Dr. Daniel McAlees, University of Wisconsin-Stout; and "Developing Self-Employment and Small Business Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities," Ms. Jeanne Miller, University of Arkansas.

The 24th IRI prime study groups will begin meeting in fall 1997, so that draft documents may be presented at the annual IRI forum scheduled in Washington, DC, May 3-5, 1998. IRI is a cycle of activities originating in the request for possible topics for study and ending in the publication of documents Useful in training and program development. As part of the "streamlining" agreement between RSA and CSAVR, IRI was highlighted as a project to develop guidance and training materials to sustain and expand activities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the VR program.

Revitalizing IRI

During the past few years, RSA and CSAVR determined the need to be more actively involved in IRI and to use this activity as a yearly opportunity to rethink the VR process and to improve program performance. The immediate results of this renewed interest have been twofold. For one, there has been increased support and participation by the staff of the state VR agencies. Second, the topics selected by the RSA Commissioner for the past two IRI cycles have been specifically related to improving the quality of employment outcomes achieved by persons with disabilities served by the public VR program.

In order to familiarize all members of the rehabilitation community with RSA procedures for conducting the IRI, it may be useful to review the history of IRI, the support organizations, the organizational structure, and the process from topic selection to dissemination of the IRI publication.

Historical Perspective of IRI

IRI has had a long history of cooperation and affiliation among state VR agencies, RSA, universities, and community rehabilitation programs. This affiliation continues to receive strong support today.

IRI is one of the longest running annual events in the human services field. It began as the Guidance, Training and Placement Workshops (GTP) in 1947. The original purpose was to discuss subjects of general interest in state VR agencies and prepare training materials for staff, at all levels, in those agencies.

In 1963, the name was changed to the Institute on Rehabilitation Services (IRS). Major support for IRS continued as a partnership between the state VR agencies and RSA and, for the first time, universities participated as prime study group coordinators. Funding problems in the RSA Training Grants Program in 1974 caused the name change. RSA shifted financial support for the new IRI to the RSA administered rehabilitation research program. In 1978, the National Institute on Handicapped Research (NIHR), later to become the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), was created by law to administer the research program and IRI funding moved to NIHR, which continued sole support through its Research and Training Centers (RTC) program.