Biography: Edward Ziegler
"When I woke up from my coma," says Ed Ziegler, Senior Accessibility Analyst at TecAccess, "There was utter panic and confusion, nothing was as I remembered. My memories were of "yesterday," and scuba diving with my best friend. Unbeknownst to me, that was eight weeks previous. I couldn´t move because I was paralyzed, I couldn´t talk and I couldn´t think."
The year was 1982 and Edward Ziegler was involved in an automobile accident that left him with traumatic brain injury shortly before Mother´s Day. He was in a coma for two months. What he had taken for granted up until that point in life -- talking, swallowing, eating, rolling over in bed, using the bathroom, and walking -- had to be relearned and modified.
Rehabilitation at Johnson-Willis Hospital took years. Yet despite daily pain and constant rehabilitation, Ed decided to prove to all that knew him that he was still the energetic spirit who once held a Scuba certificate and never backed down from a challenge.
Ed entered into the Richmond Marathon, the Super Cities Walk for MS, and the Walk Through the Clouds to raise public awareness of brain injury.
Local media began to catch on, as newspapers and TV station were captivated by his determination to compete in, and complete, all of these events.
In the years since his accident Ed has continued to demonstrate this kind of willingness to learn to adapt his strengths to overcome his limitations. In 1985, Ed was introduced to his first computer as a Christmas gift. He had severe ataxia in his left arm and a nonfunctional right arm, making it impossible to write or type.
After several writing courses at a local community college, Ed not only learned to write, but also found that writing helped to retrain his thought processes. Despite the therapeutic benefits, it was time-consuming to say the least. Writing a one-page paper, for instance, took days to accomplish. With the advent of speech recognition technology in 1991, Dragon Dictate 1.0 became his "research project" of sorts.
As Ed began to seek out new and improving assistive technology he slowly began to become known in technology circles for his ability to recognize and utilize the very best in assistive devices. Though he lacked sufficient use of his hands, Ed became a whiz at surfing the Internet and all things technology related. The freedom he found in such technology lead Ed to a new calling - teaching others with disabilities how technology can improve their lives too!
Working as a senior Accessibility Consultant at TecAccess, Ed began teaching large corporations (like Canon USA, Circuit City, and Capital One) about the benefits of utilizing assistive technology to improve working conditions for their employees with disabilities as well as reaching a new customer base - consumer with disabilities. In addition, Ed began working with government agencies to teach them about a new Federal law, entitled Section 508, which at the time was taking hold and mandating that all agencies make their technology accessible to all individuals.
As Ed excelled in this professional field, he shattered previously held myths about people with disabilities. He proved that an employee with a disability can outwork and outperform a non-disabled employee when given the right accommodations and the chance to grow.
To expand upon this notation Ed applied for, and was accepted into, Partner´s in Policy Making - an innovative advocacy organization that provides competency based leadership training programs for adults with disabilities with disabilities.
Ed´s motivation was twofold: To teach best practices in disability to others, and to develop the competencies to influence public officials. Since graduating from this program Ed has joined an international network of community leaders serving on policy making committees, commissions, and boards at all levels of government.
And Ed hasn´t stopped there - as he has gone on to create computer classes for people with disabilities in Hanover, Virginia. To this day Ed volunteers each week to teach computer skills to people with physical and developmental disabilities.
