Sławomir Jandziś
Ewa Puszczałowska-Lizis
Genesis and stages of formation of the Polish Society for Rehabilitation of the Disabled
Sławomir Jandziś
Ewa Puszczałowska-Lizis
Institute of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rzeszów, Poland
Institute of Physiotherapy, Medical Faculty, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszów, Poland
Received: 2 August 2016 / Accepted: 13 September 2016 / Published: 1 October 2016
Abstract
The authors based on the analysis of archival materials and articles in medical journals presented the activities of individuals and organizations for the establishment of a national association for rehabilitation of the disabled. In the mid-war period, the biggest role in promoting the idea of rehabilitation of the disabled persons falls on the orthopedic environment. The founder of Polish orthopedics, professor I. Wierzejewski, in 1928, was elected to the Senate in order to enter the „Law on the care of the maimed and crippled”. At the IV Congress of the Polish Orthopaedic Association in Lviv, in 1933, one of the sessions was devoted to the care for the crippled. The resolutions of the Congress addressed to the Polish authorities argued for opening the facilities and providing education for young cripples, keeping the statistics of crippled people and the creation of associations cooperating with the International Association of Crippled Child Care. In 1937, the Ministry of Social Welfare made a draft statute of the Society for Combating Disability and Care for the Crippled. Despite many efforts, the society was not founded before the war. At the first post-World War II conference of the members of the Polish Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, held in Warsaw in 1946, prof. W. Dega presented a plan for organization of orthopedic treatment and care for the infirm. It assumed, among others, creating a nationwide association to combat disability and care for the infirm. In 1956, he founded the Committee for Cooperation with the International Society for Rehabilitation of the Disabled, which in 1957 was transformed into the Polish Committee for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled. Members of the Committee (W. Dega, Gruca A., A. Hulek, S. Rudnicki, M. Weiss, H. Dworakowska and others) sought to create a socioscientific organization for fighting disability. On March 9, 1960 they organized the meeting claiming to life one of the largest NGOs in the People’s Republic of Poland, the Polish Association for Rehabilitation of the Disabled. The establishment of the Society crowned many years of efforts of individuals and organizations working for the good of people with disabilities in Poland.
Cite
Jandziś S, Puszczałowska-Lizis E. Genesis and stages of formation of the Polish Society for Rehabilitation of the Disabled. Medical Review 2016; 14 (3): 331–339. doi: 10.15584/medrev.2016.3.8
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