---

[IDSA] [HOME] [HISTORY] [UD MISSION] [SECTION LEADER] [MEMBER ACTIVITIES] [UD CALENDAR] [RESOURCES] [CASE STUDIES] [CONTACTS]

---

Jim Mueller is an industrial designer who has worked in the field of design for people with disabilities since 1974. He is recognized as one of the most experienced designers in working directly with people with disabilities to increase independence at home, at school, and at work through design.

Jim entered the field of rehabilitation research in 1974 as a Research Associate at The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington , DC . His assignments included design, fabrication, installation, and evaluation of assistive devices for children and adults with disabilities.

In 1982, Jim established J.L. Mueller, Inc., a consulting firm to serve employers and individuals with disabilities directly through disability management and job accommodation, as well as through custom design and fabrication of products for use in the home, at school, or at work. Jim also serves as a design consultant to businesses, generating design and marketing plans to address the needs of persons with disabilities as employees and as customers .

As part of a working group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental design researchers, Jim co-authored the Principles of Universal Design in 1997. These seven Principles have been translated into several languages and are widely used as the gold standard for communicating and evaluating universal design.

Jim is a member of RESNA, the interdisciplinary society for the advancement of rehabilitation technology, and chairman of IDSA's Special Interest Section on Universal Design, w hich he helped establish in 1994. Taking over as Chair of the Section in 1997, he helped grow this group from 24 members to more than 500 by 2006.

Section Vice-Chair: Molly F. Story
President, Human Spectrum Design

Molly Story is President of Human Spectrum Design, L.L.C., a consulting firm that provides research and development support for products that work as well as possible for the entire spectrum of humanity. Along with Jim Mueller, Molly served on the working group that created the Principles of Universal Design in 1997.

Molly has also served as Co-Principal Investigator of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Medical Instrumentation since its inception in 2002. She has primary responsibility for the research activities of the RERC-AMI, including projects on Needs Analysis and Usability Analysis. The former project has collected input from more than 500 individuals, and the latter project has involved more than 110 people with disabilities in studies conducted both in the lab and in the field.

Prior to these positions, Molly served as an Associate Professor in the Industrial Design Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Molly has taught numerous courses on universal design and design for older adults and persons with disabilities in university and professional settings, as well as through the Internet.

Molly has also served as a product design consultant to Raychem Corporation, Ericsson, Maytag, and Sunrise Medical and holds six U.S. utility patents. In 2000, she served as a member of the jury for the IDEA Awards.