The Story of RI Global
 
Founded in 1922, Rehabilitation International (RI Global) is a worldwide organization comprised of people with disabilities, service providers, government agencies, academics, researchers and advocates working to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. With member organizations in more than 100 countries and in all regions of the world, RI Global also provides a forum for the exchange of experience and information on research and practice.

Rehabilitation International grew from its small town roots in the American Midwest championed by Bell Greve, a social worker who instituted relief and rehabilitation services to the disabled after World War I, and Dr. Henry Kessler, an orthopaedic surgeon who established the Kessler Institute in 1949, the first rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. Since then, the RI Global Secretariat in New York has offered expertise and spearheaded legislation aimed at giving people with disabilities the chance to lead full and productive lives. With the Secretariat as its advocate at the United Nations and other global councils, RI Global’s member organizations have an umbrella organization through which they can receive support for their grassroots goals.

Along the way, there have been four major name changes: The International Society for Crippled Children, 1922; The International Society for the Welfare of Cripples, 1939; The International Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, 1960; and Rehabilitation International, 1972. These name changesf reflect changing social awareness towards disability. At present, the organization is known around the world by the abbreviation of its 1972 name: RI Global.