Alexandra Enders, BS,
OTR
Born: August 16, 1946 -
Milwaukee, WI
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Entry into the AT field:
1976
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How I got into the
field
I worked at the first Center
for Independent Living in the country, in Berkeley, filling in as the
Independent Living Skills coordinator for a friend who was going on maternity
leave. Technology was a large part of the job. While I was there I accompanied
Judy Heumann to a rehab engineering meeting in Pomona, sponsored by the VA and
RSA under the aegis of the California Department of Rehabilitation. Judy
brought me as her attendant, as she often did when she wanted to get more CIL
folks into a meeting. I did her attendant work, but she also had me participate
as if I had been invited in my own right. I was signed in as an OT, and it
turned out I was the only OT at the meeting, which saved Reswick, when his wife
Trudy, an OT, asked about OTs at the meeting, there was at least me. No one
seemed to remember that I was there as Judy's attendant. It was my first trip
as her attendant. She had to travel in an manual wheelchair because they did
not have a lift equipped van to pick her up. When we got to the "accessible"
room, and she asked the bellman at the Kellog Center "where is the accessible
bathroom" (since the one in our room sure was not) he said "across the street,
in the main conference center". While at the meeting, Judy got a commitment
from the Veterans Administration Prosthetics Center to operate an equipment
evaluation program at the Berkeley CIL. Even though my background was as a
psych OT, I was very interested in the technology at CIL, and Judy figured I
should be the project director for the VA sponsored equipment evaluation
project. So much for my 6 months temporary position filling in as CIL's ILS
coordinator!
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Important event(s) that influenced
my early decision to get into the assistive technology field
My experience in Berkeley showed me how essential
technology was to community participation. All my co-workers at CIL were great
folks with disabilities who were able to be out and about in the world because
of the right combination of personal spirit, politics, and technology.
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Why I chose the AT
field
Technology is so concrete. It
either works or it doesn't, and if it doesn't, you just keep working at it
until it does. And I like toys.
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My inspiration and
mentor
Judy Heumann was my primary
inspiration and mentor. She has been a good friend, a mentor, a confidant and
showed me how far there still is to go in developing the tools, the delivery
and payment systems which will get appropriate technology into the lives of
people with disabilities everywhere. She showed me how important public policy
is for getting things done and how disability issues need to be incorporated
into mainstream policies so disability is a regular integrated element, not a
special add-on. She also showed me the importance of coalition development, of
reciprocity, and of seeing the big picture even when working on small
details.
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Why the field is important to me
and the central focus of my work
I am
not sure I have ever just worked in assistive technology. I have always
included technology and tools into my work. I have always been practical,
knowing that at the most basic level, people were asking; "What do I need?
How/where do I get it? And how do I pay for it?" While I have focused on policy
in a broad range of issues from telecommunications to transportation, I have
also continued to collect Do-It-Yourself patterns and plans. I think my
retirement project will be to get all the DIY material collected over a career
in a web based system for sharing DIY equipment ideas.
Currently, I am involved in Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) technology with an emphasis on demographics and
mapping. For years I talked about the relationship of tools-skills-people in a
personal support system. These are elements closest to the individual, a
"micro-environment." Using GIS, I can actively work with the spatial nature of
the person-environment interaction, with the larger "macro" environment. The
data used in GIS is essential for formulating public policy which looks beyond
just individual characteristics and interventions, to the interaction between
person and environment.
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My memorable successes and
greatest contributions to the field
The move from research to practice. Recognition
in policy and practice of the importance of technology supports to the everyday
lives of people with disabilities. Some of the largest successes, though they
took a lot of work, seemed like "duh" moments. Why did this have to take so
long? I guess because I was always accepted as at least a lurker at the edge of
the independent living/disability rights movement, I could see how slow the
changes were, and how much more was needed - while at the same time marveling
at the progress made in such a short time frame (compared to other
technological change and adoption rates).
Working on the first Tech Act legislation, so
systems change and services could be fostered at the state and local level, and
there could be increased "market pull" for getting technology moved out of the
research labs and into people's lives. Writing three editions of the
"Technology for Independent Living Sourcebook", then seeing a huge range of
technology literature emerge. Teaching workshops on technology funding, until
they started becoming part of every state's ongoing activities.
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My most memorable
failures
Failure: inability to get
the technology field to act together under a collaborating umbrella. It was
painful to watch specific technology groups move away. For example, the
driver/vehicle folks, the augmentative communication folks, etc, etc. And it
was really painful when splinter groups started fighting among themselves in
what might have been a more unified field, with a unified research agenda, and
a common voice.
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Significant changes and advances
in the field since I first entered it
Attitudes toward technology. Recognition of its
importance in the lives of people with disabilities. Computer technologies and
the advances they have allowed. Information exchange enabled by online
technologies. At heart I have always been an "information sharer" and I cannot
imagine life without the Internet.
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On the future of rehabilitation
engineering and assistive technology
I think technology is here to stay. This was not
always true, especially in the pre Tech Act days. There was always the danger
that technology would be the first thing to be cut, since it was often viewed
as a luxury add-on, and not recognized for its essential value in independent
living and community participation.
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My role within RESNA and what it
gave back to me
I was the first woman
to be a president of RESNA. I think I have chaired and/or been active on most
of the committees. I feel like RESNA and I grew up professionally together.
After being a founding member in 1979, for 20 of the next 24 years I was either
on the Board or the Executive Committee. I have also been Chair, Quality
Assurance Committee; Chair, Society and Government Affairs Committee;
Information/Networking Special Interest Group; Chair Cognitive Disabilities and
Technologies Special Interest Group; Assistive Technology journal, Book Review
Editor. One of the most fun and visible things I did was writing a DIY column
in the RESNA newsletter for years, sharing grassroots patterns, plans, and
ideas.
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On the future of RESNA
RESNA seems to be the place where the technology
experts, leaders, and elite can affiliate - a prestigious society of
leaders!
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My suggestions for those just
entering the field
Think big, but
remember the details. And if you are not regularly working with the people who
are actually using the technology, make sure you cultivate relationships with
them, so you can learn how the equipment is actually working, where improvement
is needed, and what the real world looks like in all terrains, in all weather,
and in all situations from the airplane to the restaurant and the
restroom.
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