Forum Proceedings

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." -- Helen Keller

This document is a compilation of the ideas of many people – manufacturers, technology developers, researchers, and perhaps most importantly people with visual impairments. The Technology Transfer Rehabilitation Engineering and Research Center (T2RERC) would like to acknowledge the assistance of some of the many people and organizations that helped us to create this important document.

We must first thank our sponsor, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the United States Department of Education, for recognizing the importance of development of new technology for people with visual impairments. Without support from NIDRR, this research would not have been possible.

The Far West Region of the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC), specifically Mike Sullivan, has proven to be an invaluable ally and co-sponsor of the Demand Pull Project on Visual Impairment. It is our hope that the Far West Region of the FLC will continue to be an important source of technology solutions that address the needs and opportunities identified during the Stakeholders Forum on Visual Impairment.

Special thanks to our partner and host RERC, The Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Blindness and Low Vision. We would particularly like to acknowledge John Brabyn and Deborah Gilden for providing input and guidance to the Demand Pull Project on Visual Impairment.

Thanks to the students of the University of Buffalo, UC Berkeley, and San Francisco State University for their assistance during the Stakeholders Forum on Visual Impairment. Once again, special thanks to the many people with visual impairments, clinicians, researchers, business people, and researchers who have made this publication possible. Thank you to everyone who participated in our initial telephone interviews and panels that contributed to the development of the White Papers contained within these proceedings.

Finally we would like to thank our partners from the Western New York Independent Living Project, Inc. who worked very hard to ensure that the consumer's perspective was a part of this effort. Also, the staff of the Demand Pull Team whose hard work, patience, and humor have sustained this Project from the very beginning.

Sincerely,
Wendy Strobel, MS, CRC, ATP
Demand Pull Project Director and Director of Training

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