Engineering Access Through Lived Experience
Dr. Ted Conway has spent his career at the intersection of engineering, research, disability, and accessibility. A biomedical engineer who also lives with cerebral palsy, Conway brings something particularly valuable to the field: technical expertise informed by firsthand understanding of the environments people with disabilities are expected to navigate every day.
Today, he serves as a Research Professor in Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and as affiliated faculty with FAU’s Center for SMART Health.
Where Engineering Meets Accessibility
Conway’s career has included work in mechanical engineering, biomechanics, biomedical engineering, disability research, and leadership within the National Science Foundation.
His current work includes MABLE: Mapping for Accessibility in Built Environments, a multidisciplinary project using crowdsensing, artificial intelligence, and robotics to develop responsive indoor maps and turn-by-turn navigation for people with disabilities.
Conway is one of five co-principal investigators on the project, which received Phase 2 funding through the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator Program. The technology is being designed to make spaces such as conferences, educational programs, and large public events easier to navigate independently.
Lived Experience Has a Place in Research
Conway has spoken openly about growing up with CP, independence, education, aging with disability, and the expectations society places on people whose bodies function differently.
That perspective has followed him into his professional work.
Rather than treating disability as something researchers observe from a distance, Conway demonstrates why people with disabilities belong inside the research process—as engineers, investigators, decision-makers, and experts.
Why His Story Matters to the CP Community
Adults with cerebral palsy are rarely at the center of research, technology, or service development—and Dr. Ted Conway is changing that. As an adult with CP actively leading the creation of these solutions, his career challenges longstanding assumptions about who belongs in engineering and scientific research.
When people who experience accessibility barriers firsthand have a seat at the design table, innovation becomes stronger, more practical, and genuinely inclusive. Inclusion is not simply having access to what others build; it is having the opportunity and authority to architect those solutions yourself.
Through our Power Spotlights, Cerebral Palsy Positive celebrates adults with CP whose work expands what visibility, leadership, and lifelong participation look like across every sector. Dr. Conway’s contributions remind us of the profound impact that lived expertise brings to driving healthcare equity and technological progress.
Related Posts
