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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I may be the luckiest person in the world. The thing that I was born to do did not exist when I was born. I had the good fortune to meet Bob, a young man with spinal cord while courting my wife, Laurie, who was in nursing school. Her encouragement and his energy led me to the field of occupa- tional therapy (OT). My friend Charlie Kellner went to work for a small company in Califor- nia founded by two guys named Steve. Apple computer, which was a small company at the time, changed micro-computing from something that was a hobby for the geekiest of us into a tool that could be used by mere mor- tals, just in time for my enthusiasm for OT to lead me to the belief that computers could be valuable tools for people with disabilities. While in OT school, I had the opportunity to work with David Beukel- man, one of the leaders in the field of augmentative and alternative com- munication. This opportunity, and his mentorship, furthered my interest in the field. When I started working as an occupational therapist, my boss, Marita Postma, was forward looking enough to purchase an Apple II computer for the clinic, allowing me to pursue and confirm my belief that these things could indeed be important for people with disabilities. While working at that job, I started publishing a small newsletter under the title The OTÊs Computer . This newsletter, while it never had a large cir- culation, did have wide reach, with subscribers all over the United States, Canada, and Europe. The newsletter allowed me to explore ideas of com- puter use in the clinic, in support of both clinicians and people with dis- abilities, and gave me wide recognition in the field.