ASORC was recently advised that in July 2025, Dr. Rodd Rothwell passed away. The following tribute was written by Erin M. Fearn-Smith | Lecturer, Behavioural and Social Sciences in Health, The University of Sydney.
In 1975, Rodd was recruited by the Principal of Cumberland College of Health Sciences, later to become the University of Sydney Faculty of Health Sciences, to establish the first Australian program in Rehabilitation Counselling in the tertiary education sector. Covering studies in disability, rehabilitation and rehabilitation counselling, the program was offered both as an Associate and Graduate Diploma. By the late 1980s, Rodd was instrumental in developing the first Australian bachelor and master degree programs in rehabilitation counselling. These pathbreaking educational developments were informed by his publication, Rehabilitation Counselling: Profession and Practice (1984). It was the first scholarly contribution in Australia to analyse the socio-historical development of rehabilitation counselling in both national and comparative international contexts. Adopting a rigorous philosophical approach to the understanding of disability and rehabilitation in his teaching and research, Rodd played a widely recognised leadership role in the development of the professional knowledge base and practice of rehabilitation counselling in Australia. He was regularly invited to provide keynote and guest speaker addresses at ASORC and Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) conferences, among others.
A scholar and teacher of immense erudition, humility, intellectual generosity and humour, Rodd was a beloved teacher and colleague at Cumberland College and The University of Sydney. He supervised innumerable honours and post-graduate theses and treatises to successful completion, attracted hundreds of students from across the University to his elective units of study in criminality and rehabilitation and substance use and rehabilitation, and co-authored a sizeable library of chapters and journal articles, especially in the field of health professional knowledge and practice.
From his experience as a parent and carer, Rodd had an intimate and 'insider's' knowledge and understanding of disability that always informed his work, especially in relation to the countless number of students with disabilities who studied with him. Unsurprisingly, he always maintained a consistent advocacy role for people with disabilities, particularly in their engagement with human services and the professionals who provide them. At the heart of his research and in his teaching of those who provide such services was a simple but compelling message: it is not a person's condition that creates barriers, but how we as a society respond to and work with the person who has that condition.
Rodd was a man with incredible spirit whose effort and contributions had a profound impact on our rehabilitation counselling profession here in Australia. He is dearly missed and warmly remembered.