As a bilingual Latina first-generation college student with an ambulatory disability, I have faced and overcome many challenges. Combining my academic studies in engineering, business and social justice, my career goals revolve around improving people’s lives. With a degree in Industrial Technology, emphasis in structural engineering, I want to create better physical access for the people of Los Angeles. I plan to start in my immediate community of El Sereno.
I want to specifically work with Los Angeles city services in order to make our sidewalks safer for every able-bodied pedestrian, and also to advocate on behalf of people like myself who have physical disabilities. According to data from the 2016 American Community Survey conducted by researchers at Cornell University, 6.1% of the California population reported living with an ambulatory disability. A 2006 Los Angeles County Public Health report indicated nearly 1.3 million Los Angelenos have physical disabilities. Lack of access makes it difficult for people with disabilities to navigate their communities with independence and the safety every individual deserves. With my engineering background, I am uniquely positioned to analyze and assess accessibility needs and offer design options to adjust for access deficiencies in our city’s infrastructure.

After completing my undergraduate degree, I aim to get my General Contractor’s License. In addition to my STEM major, I am currently working towards a minor in Business Management as well as a minor in Entrepreneurship. I want to then further my education with a master’s degree in either Business Administration or Business Management. Utilizing my business education, I hope to one day open my own construction company that specializes in designing and adapting homes for people with disabilities. I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when I was six. When I lost my mobility, my family and I struggled to find people who were willing to make our home wheelchair accessible with ramps and wider doorways. Construction people were not accustomed to creating conditions different from ‘standard measurements.’

My construction company will not deny services to those with different circumstances. I dream of being able to work with various government programs to help low-income people with disabilities to find funding for necessary housing adaptations. Specifically, I want to see if there's a way to connect Housing and Urban Development offices with health insurers to finance home remodeling costs for the differently abled. Current government programs focus on functional home improvements that feel institutional. I want to bridge the design gap and create housing modifications that provide access and are attractive, comfortable, and feel more like a home.

I have big plans and am looking for as much support as possible to achieve my academic and career goals. My disability and medical issues cause me to periodically miss class. This is reflected in some low grades on my transcript. I currently have a tutor to help me raise my grades. A scholarship would help me offset the costs of extra academic assistance. Due to the many physical obstacles I have faced, plus my decision to change my course of study to Industrial Technology, it has taken me longer than expected to finish my degree. Because of this delay, I have been advised I might lose my financial aid after this year so a scholarship would allow me to finish my studies. At the moment I am working two jobs, in order to financially support my parents and sisters. A scholarship would allow me to cut back on my work hours and better focus on my studies.

Anyone who tells me my dreams are too big just makes me want to push that much harder to achieve them. I want to experience personal success, but more importantly I want to serve others. People tell me I am a role model. All I know is that I am willing to work hard to make my big plans become reality and will make excellent use of any resources allocated to me.

Essay: Limitless Wand

The assistive device I have found to be most helpful was designed by some of my fellow engineering students at Cal State University Los Angeles. The device itself is fairly straightforward but like it’s name suggests, the Limitless Wand has provided me with unlimited help. It is no exaggeration to say it has changed my life completely.
I was first diagnosed with ​Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, Type 2D​ at the age of six. This term (LGMD) describes a group of diseases that cause a weakness and wasting of the muscles primarily in the pelvic region, shoulder girdle, arms and the legs. I lost the strength in my feet and was confined to a wheelchair at age eleven. For the first year and a half I used a manual wheelchair but as my muscular ability decreased, and my hands became weaker, I was given a power wheelchair.

At age fifteen, I was diagnosed with scoliosis. The severity progressed quickly, and within one year doctors said I needed to urgently fix my spine or else I risked being in need of a permanent breathing tube. After careful consideration, I decided to undergo spinal fusion surgery. During this 12-hour procedure my spine was broken and straightened with 2-rods and 32-screws. The surgery was successful and allowed me to sit straight. The unfortunate side-effects, were that the screws in my back limited the flexibility a healthy spine would normally have, and resulted in restricted movement in my upper extremities. This restricted movement definitely impacted my mobility and I lost dexterity; I no longer had the strength to lift my hands. This meant I lost the ability to feed myself, as I could no longer do anything that required lifting my arms more than a few inches.

I have had the interesting life experience of progressing from childhood to adolescence and early adulthood while experiencing simultaneous, steady, muscular regression. With each standard developmental milestone, I experienced progress but also restriction. I took on more responsibility and became more active: I am a college student, majoring in Industrial Technology and minoring in Business Management as well as Entrepreneurship; I work two jobs; I perform with an Aztec dance company; I am learning to drive. And yet, before the invention of the Limitless Wand, I was unable to do something as seemingly simple as use elevators without assistance.

Because I am limited in how high I can raise my hands, it is difficult for me to reach up and press elevator buttons. Because of the muscular weakness in my hands, any assistive device needs to be lightweight yet with enough tensile strength to firmly press the buttons. My options (pre-Limitless Wand) were either to bring a caregiver to school to assist me, or to wait for someone to pass by the elevator I needed to use and ask them to press the buttons for me. Sometimes I waited 10 to 20 minutes for someone to come by so that I could access the elevator. I had to learn to overcome my innate shyness and ask strangers for help. Sometimes two or three people would pass by before I could muster the courage to ask one of them to press the buttons for me.

One day the student I asked to help me with the elevator buttons offered to create something I could use to push the buttons on my own. After much discussion he and a small group created a few prototypes for me. The final product is a 19-inch aluminum rod; one end is wrapped with silicon tape, which gives me a good physical grip on the device. After much trial and error, we found that Leki Rubber tips are best for the end of the wand that is used to push the buttons. The students drilled two holes into the desk on my wheelchair and used Gorilla Super Glue Gel to snug fit Super Magnets Imanes-AImants on the desk surface. I can easily pick up my wand and it attaches securely to the magnets so I don’t need to worry about it rolling off my desk (Bernal, Chavez, Garcia & Lewis; Spring 2017)

The Limitless Wand is fairly simple in design. Each of the component parts can be purchased at local stores or online. And yet as of Spring 2017, I was unable to find anything like it on the market. I am interested in further developing this product and making it more widely available for other people with disabilities similar to mine. I think there is also the possibility of developing a similar mouth-held tool for people with quadriplegia to use.

The parts needed to make the Limitless Wand are not expensive and the costs to manufacture it are low. For such a simple tool, the benefits of the Limitless Wand are magnificent. I can use elevators with ease, I can press automatic door pushers that are an arm’s reach away, and more importantly, I can navigate my environment with dignity and independence. I strongly believe that this simple tool can help disabled children and adults feel more confident and capable in everyday, simple tasks such as pushing elevator buttons.

For a video of me using the Limitless Wand, please view this link: https://youtu.be/IpNQam1Qmjw.