How has it changed over the years (e.g., participants, technology, locations)?

The Expo has been held every year since 1985, almost always on the UW-Madison campus, at Union South, Memorial Union, and most recently, in the Engineering Centers and Mechanical Engineering buildings.

Initially, the Expo featured assistive technology, designed to facilitate the functional capabilities of people with disabilities, along with other applications of technology designed to facilitate the provision of rehabilitation and special education services. At one point it expanded, at the request of the Wisconsin Rehabilitation Counseling Association, to include exhibits highlighting a variety of rehabilitation programs and general resources for people with disabilities. In the past five years the focus has shifted more exclusively to assistive technology.

The sponsors of the Expo have expanded to include the Pathways to Independence and Wisconsin Assistive Technology (WisTech) Programs in the Wisconsin Department of Health Services; the UW Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (UW-CREATe) and the UW-Madison College of Engineering; the Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (SVRI) at UW-Stout; the UW-Madison Department of Rehabilitation Psychology & Special Education; the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR); and the Wisconsin Rehabilitation Counselors and Educators Association (WRCEA). I took the lead in organizing the event during the first 20 years, followed by Cayte Anderson and Samantha Ninnemann during the next four years, both at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and UW-Stout, and currently, Monica KamalRossa from Madison’s Spinal Cord Injury Group is taking the lead.

Technology has changed dramatically since 1985, when Apple IIe computers were among the most widely used, and cell phones, the Internet, and GPS technology were still years away. Advances in technology have opened many possibilities for people with disabilities, and it is these advances that are highlighted at the Expo.

A number of organizations have continued to exhibit since the early days of the event, including a number of UW-Madison programs (the Communication Aids and Systems Clinic at the Waisman Center, the TRACE Research and Development Center in the College of Engineering, and the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology & Special Education), in addition to the Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute, Ultratec, the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).

The active participation of the College of Engineering and UW-CREATe has taken the Expo to a new level, largely through the involvement of Jay Martin, a UW-Madison professor in the Departments of  Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. Professor Martin also directs UW-CREATe, in addition to the Midwest Alliance, a National Science Foundation (NSF) project that facilitates the involvement of students with disabilities in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math. Professor Martin has involved a number of faculty and programs in engineering and has also organized poster presentations by his students, demonstrating innovations that they have been involved in developing. He has also brought some important keynote speakers and panels to give presentations at the Expo.

--------------------------------------------------- written by Dr. Berven
REHABILITATION PSYCHOLOGY & SPECIAL EDUC

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