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updated March 16, 2010
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Differently-Abled:
Rose-Hulman Student Overcomes Physical Obstacles
to Realize Engineering Dream
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No obstacle has kept Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology senior Elaine
Houston from realizing her dream of making a difference as a biomedical
engineer. And, few students can appreciate the personal struggles that
she has overcome to get this far.
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Limitless Horizons: Elaine Houston is a senior biomedical engineering
student at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology who hopes to contribute to
the development of a Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance, a power
wheelchair with two robotic arms, as a doctoral student at the University of
Pittsburgh. |
Houston has no fingers on her left hand. She
experiences weakness in her arms and shoulders. Her knees and ankles
require bracing to enable standing and walking.
However, she doesn’t see herself as disabled. Rather she refers herself
as being “differently-abled.”
“It is hard for me to delineate exactly how life would be different if I
had been born ‘normal,’” said Houston in a recent interview.
Houston grew up playing baseball and doing many of the other things that
other children do, just a bit slower or more awkward in appearance.
Perhaps it was obvious to others at the time that she would never be a
superstar athlete, but she never let that stop her from trying to do the
best with what she had been provided. She had to find different ways of
pursuing the things that really matter in everyday life.
Houston learned very early to communicate and interact with adults.
Working one-on-one with physical therapists, occupational therapists,
early intervention teachers, and others, taught her to deal with people
on a different level than the average child. Her parents always found
ways for their daughter to do things to ensure she was never able to say
"I cannot do that."
In the second grade, Houston received a LEGO Mindstorms robotics kit for
her birthday. She became interested in robots right away, and joined
engineering-related groups throughout junior high school and high
school. That was when her future as an engineer was sealed, she said.
After all, how many 15 year old girls ask for a soldering station and
digital multi-meter for Christmas?
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Encouraging Youths: Elaine Houston helps a visiting middle school
student understand how to program a robot to achieve a task during a recent
after school educational program at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology that
hopes to motivate youths towards careers in engineering, science, technology
and mathematics. |
When looking at colleges, one of Houston’s primary objectives was
finding an institution that was accessible. In Rose-Hulman, she found a
school that was not only far more advanced than most, but also very
friendly and helpful.
“Almost unbelievably, even all these years after the Americans with
Disabilities Act, many schools still lack some basic accommodations,”
says Houston. She has helped President Matt Branam and other
administrators to address areas where accommodations were lagging to
help ensure that future differently-abled students will feel even more
welcome. She also made a campus presentation this winter to faculty and
staff members on people-first language and disability awareness.
At Rose-Hulman, Houston has completed the college’s Leadership Academy
development course, has been leader of the college’s Society of Women
Engineers’ program that gives female high school seniors an opportunity
to experience engineering and is vice president of the Rose Tech Radio
Club, one of the college’s oldest student organizations.
From an engineering perspective, Houston has learned what she can do,
and discovered ways to compensate for things that are difficult. She
hopes to be accepted into the rehabilitation science doctoral program at
the University of Pittsburgh. She spent last summer in an internship
program with distinguished professor Rory Cooper in Pittsburg, and hopes
to continue working with him on the development of a Personal Mobility
and Manipulation Appliance (PerMMA), a power wheelchair with two robotic
arms.
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