Undergraduate Rehabilitation Accreditation as a Tool in the Social Justice Movement

Abstract

Accreditation of undergraduate rehabilitation education (URE) programs is a tool to further the cause of social justice. In addition to supporting this statement, this article explores the relationship between URE, accreditation curriculum, and the training of graduates to facilitate justice for all members of society. The social justice struggle for accreditation equity for URE is reviewed, as well as continued threats to accreditation, and the need for consistent professional identity and nomenclature. The new accreditation curriculum standards and their attention to social justice concepts is discussed. Accreditation advantages and disadvantages as they relate to justice are offered. Advantages include the strength of consistency of curriculum, while disadvantages involve leaning toward homogenization of the course of study, and a threat of return to a paternalistic view of consumers. In addition, financial challenges presented by the pandemic to URE programs is discussed, along with a strategy to address those issues. An analysis of advantages and disadvantages to accreditation as it relates to social justice and consumers reveals that benefits far outweigh potential issues. Further, short-term and long-term strategies to address threats to accreditation, challenges to consistent names for the profession, its graduates and professional scope, and a stratagem to address nomenclature is offered. Finally, strategies to strengthen the new curriculum to reflect current day understanding of social justice are presented. The country has awakened to social justice issues, and is time that intentional curriculum, driven by accreditation, trains graduates to become social justice advocates and allies.