How It All Began

WRF was founded by Howard A. Rusk, M.D., known by many as the Father of Modern Rehabilitation Medicine. 

Here is his personal account of WRF’s creation in 1955:

(taken from Howard Rusk's book, A World to Care For)

When General “Wild Bill” Donovan (who headed the Office of Strategic Services intelligence network during World War II) was ambassador to Thailand in the early fifties, he got in touch with me and said he was facing a difficult political position.  The Thais were cynical about America, and something needed to be done to make them feel we were interested in them as people.  Since there was no such thing as rehabilitation in Thailand, Donovan thought that if we could bring a team of Thais to America, train them here, and send them back to launch a rehabilitation program there, both countries would benefit from it.

Needless to say, he didn’t have to sell me on the idea.  He found the money, brought over a team of people from Thailand, and we trained them.  After their training, they returned home and started a very successful program.  It was so successful that on one of his trips back to the United States, Donovan and I discussed with our great friend and sponsor, Mary Lasker, the possibility of continuing and enlarging this type of program.  The conclusion was that we shouldn’t limit the idea to Thailand, but that we should organize a nonprofit rehabilitation agency to help launch similar programs all over the world….

What we needed was an agency that would be free to move quickly when someone asked us for help. As a result, the World Rehabilitation Fund was organized in December of 1955.  Its basic aim was to sponsor international projects, which would help people with disabilities and create a better understanding of their challenges.

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