Ireland Chapter Update
Ireland Chapter
”2007 is the year the Board of the Irish Chapter will put their association on the map”. This was our vow at the first meeting of the year. We have gone gung-ho at doing just that. For example, we presented a proposal to the International Board of IARP and the International Committee, for a financial grant towards funding our membership drive. They have been good enough to award us $1000 for which we are very grateful. Coincidently, or fortunately, at present the Dunhill Multi-Education Centre in Waterford are giving a number of lectures from March to June on disability issues headed up by Dr. Kathleen Deery of the University of Wisconsin, Stout. The Irish Chapter Board decided it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to advertise our association, a readymade audience if you like. Dr. Deery was good enough to agree to accommodate us and to be so good as to mention us attending the conferences to each audience.
The membership drive, although it demands time and energy from the board members, is also a healthy process for the group. Not alone is it personally rewarding, but, more importantly, it strengthens and gels us as a group because we are working towards the same end result. For the most part, the rehabilitation field in Ireland is disjointed, disconnected and disorganized. We are mindful that professional associations bring professionals together to guide, direct, organize and include them.
The educational standards for rehabilitation professionals are very different in Ireland than in the USA and Canada. For example, in the vocational arena professionals come from an educational, social science, or psychology background. Otherwise, service providers offer an in-house training for their staff. In recent years education and qualifications in rehabilitation/disability specifically has started to come on board. A number of the Irish Chapter members have designed and lecture on a Certificate in Disability Studies at the Tipperary Institute. Plus, University College Dublin (UCD) has an undergraduate and post-graduate program.
Our aim is to sign-up twenty new members in the coming months and we would be delighted to bring our numbers to fifty by the end of the year so that we can qualify for the reduced indemnity group insurance. We would appreciate any advice the chapters might have in how they have increased their member numbers. Otherwise, send lots of good vibes and energy to your fellow professionals over the Atlantic for a successful membership drive.
Helen Connolly O'Donoghue
Ireland Chapter President
