Tuesday, February 8th
|
Designing Beyond the Norm to
Meet the Needs of All People Peter W.
Axelson, MSME, ATP, RET Beneficial Designs,
Inc. |
Abstract: Peter will talk about the
difference between Universal, Adaptable, and Adaptive design. Peter was the
first undergraduate using a wheelchair for mobility to live on the Stanford
campus in 1976 when accessibility issues were just beginning to be addressed.
Those experiences and the desire to participate in the same physical activities
as every other college student who had professional and recreational interests
shaped his career as a designer. Peter will share how his interests spawned the
creation of Beneficial Designs,
Inc to support the development of personal, activity specific and
environmental technologies for people of all abilities. His experience in
obtaining Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants to develop and
functionally assess products, services and the designs of outdoor environments,
has provided many opportunities for he and his staff to change the way people
with impairments of all kinds are able to participate in all aspects of life
activity. His company works toward universal access through research, design
and education to enable persons of all abilities to participate in the
physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects of life.
Biosketch: Peter Axelson is a
rehabilitation engineer who sustained a spinal cord injury in a 1975 climbing
accident while in the Air Force Academy. He continued his education at Stanford
University, where he began applying engineering and design principles to
overcome daily living hurdles faced by people with disabilities. In 1981 he
founded Beneficial Designs, Inc. an engineering design firm dedicated to
designing, developing, and testing assistive technologies. His accomplishments
include developing the first chairlift-compatible mono-ski with a shock
absorber, working to establish wheelchair testing standards, developing seating
systems for wheelchairs, and creating a system to assess trails that will
improve access to outdoor trails for people of all abilities.
Peter is the founder and the Director of
Research and Development of Beneficial Designs and spends much of his time
traveling throughout the world attending meetings and presenting his work. He's
also a pilot and avid mono-skier.
- Contact Information:
- Beneficial Designs,
Inc.
- P.O. Box 69
- Minden, NV 89423
- 775/783-8822
- 775/783-8823 fax
- peter -at-
beneficialdesigns.com
- Lecture Material:
- Pre-lecture
slides - 299 Kb pdf file
- Telepresence
for Robots video
- Slides:
- Designing Beyond
the Norm to Meet the Needs of All People - 982 Kb pdf file
- Beneficial Designs
Virtual Tour - 2.97 Mb pdf file
- Project
Examples - 2.75 Mb pdf file
- Tools and
Technology for Accessible Trails - 3.87 Mb pdf file
- Public Rights
of Way Assessment Process - 2.24 Mb pdf file
- Audio -
1:15:24 - 17.2 Mb mp3 file
- Handouts:
- Beneficial Design - 36.4 Kb pdf
file
- Creating Universal Access - 54.0 Kb pdf
file
- Links:
- Biden
to lead delegation to Olympics opening ceremony
- Beneficial Designs Newsletter - December
2010 - 161 Kb pdf file
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