Glossary
The field, defined.
The vocabulary of the rehabilitation workforce — and of the Alliance — in plain language. If a term on this site is unfamiliar, it is defined here.
01 The Alliance
How IRWFA is built.
Architecture & governance
- IRWFA
- The International Rehabilitation Workforce Alliance — an independent, member-governed alliance uniting the colleges, employers and students of the rehabilitation field under one shared standard.
- The three Councils
- The engine of the Alliance — Academic, Clinical and Research — which set the curriculum standard, govern supervised practicum, and steward the evidence commons.
- The three Classes
- The constituency of the Alliance — Industry, Institutions and Students — the members the Councils serve.
- Anchor Institution & Secretariat
- Bharath Healthcare Laboratories (BHCL), operating Pinnacle Blooms Network®, which anchors and administers the Alliance in its establishment period.
- Convening Coalition
- The founding group that convenes the Alliance; membership carries no precedence by date of admission.
- SAṄRACHANĀ
- “Structure” — the 32-seat, six-layer expert consortium that architected the Alliance and advises it; designated chairs pending formal appointment.
- PRAJÑĀ
- The Alliance's motto — applied wisdom.
- Section 8 company
- An Indian not-for-profit company; IRWFA's legal vehicle, separate from its Anchor, with an asset-lock on dissolution.
- IFRI
- The Institutional Fit & Readiness Index — a 0–1000 score of how ready an institution is to meet the standard, used to sequence onboarding.
- SEVA
- Social Equity in Valuable Access — the Alliance's commitment to equity and access, aligned to the UN CRPD.
02 The credential
What you earn.
Designations
- The Fellowship
- The Alliance's voluntary professional credential — a mark of a workforce formed to the shared standard.
- FIRWFA
- Fellow of the Alliance — the senior designation.
- MIRWFA
- Member of the Alliance — the professional designation for qualified practitioners.
- Scholar
- The student designation — those training to the standard.
- Practicum
- Supervised, assessed clinical practice — where classroom competence becomes clinical capability.
- Competency-based education
- Education defined by what a learner can demonstrably do, not by hours attended.
03 Technology & measurement
How development is measured.
Measurement & software
- AbilityScore®
- A 0–1000 developmental measure built by the Alliance's Anchor, independently validated against Vineland-3, CARS-2, Bayley-4 and ABAS-3.
- PinnacleAI GPT-OS®
- The software-as-a-medical-device behind AbilityScore®, classified by India's CDSCO as Class B SaMD.
- SaMD
- Software as a Medical Device — software intended for a medical purpose, regulated as a device.
- CDSCO
- India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation — the national medical-device and drug regulator.
- FAIR data
- Data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable — the principle the research commons follows.
04 Standards & codes
The common languages.
Frameworks & terminologies
- WHO ICF
- The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health — the common language of human function.
- ICD-11
- The WHO International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision.
- ICHI
- The WHO International Classification of Health Interventions.
- SNOMED CT
- The international clinical terminology for health records.
- HL7-FHIR
- A standard for exchanging health information electronically.
- WFOT
- The World Federation of Occupational Therapists — whose minimum standards inform clinical formation.
05 Regulatory & policy
The Indian ground-truth.
The RCI and the rails
- RCI
- The Rehabilitation Council of India — the statutory regulator of rehabilitation training under the RCI Act 1992. IRWFA complements it and does not supplant it.
- CRR / CRE
- The Central Rehabilitation Register, and Continuing Rehabilitation Education — the RCI's register and continuing-education system.
- MSJE / DEPwD
- The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and its Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities — the RCI's nodal ministry.
- NEP 2020 / National Credit Framework
- India's outcome-based, credit-mobile education policy and the rails the standard runs on.
- DPDP Act 2023
- India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act — under which the Alliance handles all personal and children's data.
The Invitation
Now you speak the language.
Join the field you now have the vocabulary for — membership is free in the establishment period.
members@irwfa.org · 9100 181 181