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Jack – What kind of work do you do?

Jack – What kind of work do you do?

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My first job was with the Public Building Service of the federal government—the General Services Administration. My undergraduate degree was in comprehensive design, a very broad, a very broad approach to design in undergraduate school. I received ... Show More

My first job was with the Public Building Service of the federal government—the General Services Administration. My undergraduate degree was in comprehensive design, a very broad, a very broad approach to design in undergraduate school. I received a phone call from the Rehabilitation Institute in late spring, asking me if I would be interested in running a design advocacy program they had. I said, “Yes,” for a number of reasons, and I loved it. I was there for three years, and said this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, I want to be a design communication advocate. But I wanted to do it as a professional. So, I decided to return to school, get a graduate degree in architecture, work as an architect and then slowly get involved in accessibility. During that time, the ADA was passed, which accelerated interest, accelerated awareness of the impact of architectural barriers. And so, things started falling into place. I worked for a large firm in the city of Chicago for about 12 years, half of that time as a conventional architect, but the last half of that getting more and more involved in barrier-free design and accessibility issues, to a point where I decided I could start my own firm. So, two other associates of the firm and I started our own firm 14 years ago now, and we now have 23 people, and we’re doing real well.

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Architectural Barriers, Rehabilitation Institute
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Jack – What kind of work do you do?

Jack

Injured in 1974 at age 26, paraplegic
More Videos by Jack
Transcriptadd

My first job was with the Public Building Service of the federal government—the General Services Administration. My undergraduate degree was in comprehensive design, a very broad, a very broad approach to design in undergraduate school. I received a phone call from the Rehabilitation Institute in late spring, asking me if I would be interested in running a design advocacy program they had. I said, “Yes,” for a number of reasons, and I loved it. I was there for three years, and said this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, I want to be a design communication advocate. But I wanted to do it as a professional. So, I decided to return to school, get a graduate degree in architecture, work as an architect and then slowly get involved in accessibility. During that time, the ADA was passed, which accelerated interest, accelerated awareness of the impact of architectural barriers. And so, things started falling into place. I worked for a large firm in the city of Chicago for about 12 years, half of that time as a conventional architect, but the last half of that getting more and more involved in barrier-free design and accessibility issues, to a point where I decided I could start my own firm. So, two other associates of the firm and I started our own firm 14 years ago now, and we now have 23 people, and we’re doing real well.

Jack – What kind of work do you do?
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