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Entry into the AT field:
1976
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How I got into the
field
While I was still in
undergraduate school, I obtained a copy of a report from MIT. The report
described work by students of Woodie Flowers who had modified toys for children
with disabilities. The report sparked an interest in what I could do with my
engineering skills and education. I went off to the University of Vermont to
study biomechanics and biomedical engineering. I maintained an interest in
rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology.
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What is your professional
background?
My undergraduate degree
is in Mechanical Engineering and my Masters degree is in Mechanical Engineering
with a focus on Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Engineering.
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Important event(s) that influenced
my early decision to get into the assistive technology field
While I was in graduate school at the University
of Vermont studying Biomechanics, I took classes in anatomy, physiology, and
kinesiology with the physical therapy students. I became friends with Susan
Edelman who, at the time, was the physical therapy specialist for the "Vermont
Interdisciplinary Team (I-Team)." The I-Team was a group of specialists at the
University of Vermont who consulted around the state of Vermont in special
education classes and for students with disabilities. It was a time when
E&J was the predominant wheelchair manufacturer and the choice of
wheelchairs and features was extremely limited. One day, Susan complained that
she had a number of students who required custom wheelchair seating but she
couldn't find anyone who understood what she needed who could build the seats.
Having taken the physical therapy courses I told Susan I understood what she
needed and I could build the seats. I started a company called "Vermont
Rehabilitation Engineering" and shared a wood shop with a friend who made
guitars and started making wheelchair seats and other assistive technology
devices.
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Why I chose the AT
field
I can't remember a time when I
didn't want to be an engineer. "To be an engineer" was what I wrote in my
elementary school autograph book. My desire to be an engineer manifested itself
primarily in building balsa wood and plastic model planes. I guess I had more
interest in building them than flying them, especially since they seemed to
crash every time I tried to fly them. It seemed natural to want to be an
aeronautical engineer and so applied to universities with aeronautical
engineering programs.
My application to universities took place
in 1969, soon after the height of the Vietnam war. It was during the interview
with an NYU alumnus that he asked, "What do you want to do when you grow
up?" Seemed like an easy question to answer since I was being considered
for the aeronautical engineering program. "I want to design airplanes,"
was my reply. "What kind of planes do you want to design,"
he asked. Well, I hadn't really thought that far ahead so said, "I'm not
sure." He then proceeded to explain the only group of people with enough
money to design new planes was the government. "Do you know what type of
planes the government buys?" he asked. "War planes" I responded. He
confronted me and asked, "Is that what you want to do?" It
was at that moment that my life's ambitions changed. I didn't know to what at
the time, but I knew I, personally, couldn't and wouldn't contribute to the
enterprise I had been demonstrating against just the week before. I didn't go
to NYU but stayed in the neighborhood and went to The Cooper Union, the only
school I applied to without an aeronautical engineering
program.
I believe my journey to bioengineering
and rehabilitation engineering began with something my father said to me. Being
Holocaust survivors, my parents never missed an opportunity to "kvell" about
their children. My older sister was the first in our family to receive a
college degree. As I entered my engineering program, my father was proudly
telling a friend about my studies and looked at me and told me I should help
people with my engineering skills.
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My inspiration and
mentor
There have been a number of
people who have inspired me in the field of rehabilitation engineering. My
first job out of graduate school was at the Veterans Administration Prosthetics
Center (later called the VA Rehabilitation Engineering Center) on 7th Avenue in
New York City. Tony Staros was the director of the VAPC and was a great mentor
to me. After leaving the VAPC I went to work at Crotched Mountain
Rehabilitation Center in New Hampshire. Phil Waterman had started a program to
provide vocational and rehabilitation engineering services to people with
disabilities in the community. The program was modeled after two existing
programs in Washington, DC and Wichita, Kansas. Kali Mallik and Jim Mueller,
working in Washington, DC, became very important mentors to me. Their work in
providing job accommodations, primarily to white collar workers, was pioneering
and provided a great deal of education and skills to me. John Leslie and
Leonard "Andy" Anderson were busy providing job accommodations and other types
of assistive technologies to people with disabilities through their
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center at the Cerebral Palsy Research
Foundation and Wichita State University. Their expertise and passion for
rehabilitation engineering provided a great deal of knowledge as well as
inspiration to me. I learned a great deal about acute rehabilitation and the
impact rehabilitation engineering could have in the rehab process by working
for Dick Herman.
Rehabilitation Engineering and RESNA
leaders such as Rick Foulds, Greg Vanderheiden, Doug Hobson, and Barry Romich
encouraged and inspired me to serve the greater the community through the work
of RESNA.
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Why the field is important to me
and the central focus of my work
Rehabilitation engineering has enabled me to
fulfill the promise of "helping people" I made to my father. There is no
greater satisfaction than seeing a person benefit from something I've designed
and fabricated. Nothing compares to seeing a child drive a wheelchair and be
independently mobile for the first time because of the controls and
modifications you've created.
My work, over the course of my career,
has covered a large area of the field of rehabilitation engineering. I was
fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. My career basically
started at about the same time the field of rehabilitation engineering was
first being defined and developed in the U.S. Much of my early career involved
the development of job accommodations for people with disabilities. A large
part of my work involved rehabilitation engineering as it relates to low back
pain disability.
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My memorable successes and
greatest contributions to the field
I
consider my greatest successes to be the assistive technology devices I
developed for people with disabilities. There were many times, people would be
able to do something or hold a job because of the technology I
developed.
Programmatically, I consider my
contributions to the EEAT program at Crotched Mountain Rehab Center, the
Vermont Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Low Back Pain at the
University of Vermont, and the Rehabilitation Engineering Technology Program at
Vermont Technical College to be my most memorable successes.
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What do you consider your greatest
contribution(s) to the field?
I think
one of the greatest contributions I was part of was establishing service
delivery as an integral and very important part of the rehabilitation
engineering field. Along with folks like John Leslie, Leonard Anderson, and
Dave Law, I contributed to the recognition of the importance of rehabilitation
engineering service delivery and its inclusion in activities of
RESNA.
In addition to contributing to the
addition of rehabilitation engineering services to vocational rehabilitation in
amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, I contributed to the writing and
development of the Technology-Related Assistance Act of 1988 and testified to
the US House Committee in support of the bill.
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My most memorable
failures
One of my greatest
disappointments is, in spite of establishing a RESNA certification for
Rehabilitation Engineering Technologists (RET), we have been unable to
establish and maintain a robust certification for rehabilitation engineers and
technologists working in service delivery. My personal response has been to
continue to pursue such a certification and do what I could to encourage the
RESNA leadership to consider certification for rehabilitation
engineers.
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Significant changes and advances
in the field since I first entered it
There have been a great many changes since I
first entered the field. I was lucky enough to have entered the field at a time
when it was blossoming. There was much work to do and I was privileged to be
part of it. The biggest change in the field is clearly the development of new
technologies. I entered the field before the era of personal computers.
Obviously, personal computers and associated technologies, including the
Internet, have expanded opportunities for people with disabilities and have
made great strides in leveling the playing field for them. The development of
universal design concepts have made significant changes in the design of
products and the environment to the benefit of people with disabilities and
functional limitations.
When I entered the field, I could be a
generalist, someone who knew enough about most aspects of the field to operate
in them. Significant changes and advances in technology and policies have made
specialization more common and important.
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What do you perceive as the most
important advances in the field? How have they affected your work?
As stated above, I think advances in technology,
particularly computer, sensor technologies, and the Internet have significantly
changed the opportunities for people with disabilities and the work of the
rehabilitation engineer and technologist. Advances in policy and the rights of
people with disabilities, i.e. the Americans with Disabilities Act, have
contributed significantly to making people with disabilities more visible and
accepted in society.
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On the future of rehabilitation
engineering and assistive technology
With
advances in technology, the pursuit of universal design principles and greater
acceptance of people with disabilities and functional limitations in society,
the future of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology will see
fewer specialized technologies for people with disabilities and more use of
general purpose or consumer products and technologies to meet the needs of
people with disabilities. Future rehabilitation engineers and technologists
will have to understand how to meet these needs by utilizing generally
available products and technologies. Challenges in accomplishing this will be
how to fund these technologies that may not otherwise be considered "medically
necessary" but will fulfill the needs of those with functional
limitations.
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My role within RESNA and what it
gave back to me
I joined RESNA as a
charter member recognizing the importance of such an organization. I served in
a number of leadership positions including Secretary, Board of Directors and
President (2010-2012). I contributed to RESNA recognizing service delivery as
an important aspect of rehabilitation engineering and participated in pursuing
and establishing certification in assistive technology, particularly the
Rehabilitation Engineering Technologist certification.
Being a member of RESNA has been an
integral part of my career as a rehabilitation engineer and a very important
part of my life. Being able to network with other RESNA members, most of whom
are leaders in the fields of rehabilitation engineering and assistive
technology has been indispensable to my career. This networking has resulted in
lifelong friendships. It is often said RESNA becomes a part of your family.
That has certainly been true for me.
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On the future of RESNA
I think and hope RESNA will continue to be one of
the very few voices in support of the rehabilitation engineering and assistive
technology professionals and field. RESNA will continue to be important in
assuring quality in service delivery, product development and educational and
training programs. I think RESNA will continue to have to redefine the field
and what it means "To maximize the health and well being of people with
disabilities through technology."
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My suggestions for those just
entering the field
Follow your
passion! Chances are you found this field because you want to help people. Find
ways to help people. Take risks. Don't be afraid to fail. Greg Vanderheiden
said, "If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning." Get involved, as
soon as possible, in advancing the field and profession. RESNA is a great
vehicle for that. Don't hesitate to reach out to others to ask questions, any
questions! As Garth Brooks says, "Choose to chance the rapids, And dare
to dance the tide!"
