RESNA 27th International Annual Confence

Technology & Disability: Research, Design, Practice & Policy

June 18 to June 22, 2004
Orlando, Florida


Foreward

Welcome to the 27 th International Conference on Technology and Disability hosted by RESNA. The Proceedings of this conference are a valuable asset and a tangible archive of our body of knowledge in 2005. Given the speed of change, it is fun to think what this “cutting edge” body of knowledge will look like in the year 2055, or 3005.

What will not change is the commitment of people who share the interest in persons with a disability and the use of technology. In 2005 these areas of interest include in - depth exploration of many different areas of application:

The RESNA Conference and these Proceedings are a reflection of the commitment of many people. As the Conference Chair person I would like to thank all who took the time to gather their thoughts, submit their work for peer review and dedicated themselves to share with you – the authors of all the papers included in these proceedings. I would also like to thank all of those involved in the review process – our Track Chairs – Shirley Fitzgerald (Research Track), Ray Grott (Practice Track), and Nell Bailey and Jamie Prioli (Public Policy Track) and our paper revie wers Ron Kocsis , Heidi Koester, Ronny Gaal , Laura Cohen, Ed LoPresti, Alex Midhailidis, Nell Bailey , Jane Huggins, Glenn Hedman and Margo Holm.

On behalf of the entire conference planning committee, we would especially like to recognize the extraordinary efforts of Sarah Bourke, Tonya Vaughn and Larry Pencak whose daily efforts make the implementation of so many plans actually come together to create our terrific conference.

Our last thanks is to our incredibly important Proceedings Editor and Creator – Denis Anson, the whiz who makes all the digital things happen.

Enjoy and share – remember to plug in these proceedings as you both prepare for the upcoming conference and when you reflect (and need to recovery) some of the terrific work being done in the field.

Jean Minkel

On Behalf of the 2004 Conference Planning Committee

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