I was born in Newfoundland, raised in Ontario and moved to Penticton, BC in 1985. Married now for 39 years; I am a husband to a beautiful woman, 2 wonderful daughters and 1 busy fabulous grandson. As well 2 small might dogs.
I have worked since teenage years till the incident that brought on a spinal cord injury and left me quadriplegic 4 years ago. Throughout the years I have acquired many skills; to name a few: I worked in Hospitality and Service industry; Residential Care Worker, Counsellor, Facilitator, Life Skills Worker, Pastor in our local church and did many ministry outreaches. I was heavily involved in entertainment as a Director, Actor and Singer. I worked in labour jobs such as a sub-contractor, electrical, maintenance, painting, shipping and receiving and even did some Security roles. In my community and workplaces, I was involved in committees and serviced on Boards in various capacities.
SCI did not alter how I look on life. I am passionate about making a difference in people’s lives
I was born in Newfoundland, raised in Ontario and moved to Penticton, BC in 1985. Married now for 39 years; I am a husband to a beautiful woman, 2 wonderful daughters and 1 busy fabulous grandson. As well 2 small might dogs.
I have worked since teenage years till the incident that brought on a spinal cord injury and left me quadriplegic 4 years ago. Throughout the years I have acquired many skills; to name a few: I worked in Hospitality and Service industry; Residential Care Worker, Counsellor, Facilitator, Life Skills Worker, Pastor in our local church and did many ministry outreaches. I was heavily involved in entertainment as a Director, Actor and Singer. I worked in labour jobs such as a sub-contractor, electrical, maintenance, painting, shipping and receiving and even did some Security roles. In my community and workplaces, I was involved in committees and serviced on Boards in various capacities.
SCI did not alter how I look on life. I am passionate about making a difference in people’s lives
I got my engineering degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1990 with the focus on speech synthesizer hardware design and software programming.
From 1990 to 2002, designed and developed quite a few adaptive hardware and software products such as Braille notetakers, Braille OCR, electronic magnifiers, tactile speaking maps and Braille displays. Founded two start-ups and led the hardware and software development in two mid-size companies.
Led the training for adaptive software and hardware at Humanware from 2002 to 2007 then joined RBC Royal Bank in 2007 and since then have been leading the Digital Accessibility Development team at RBC.
Served as a judge for the 2025 Simon Cox Student Design Competition.
I am a keen follower of accessibility and accommodation product innovations, conferences, hackathons as well as related standards and legislations.
I volunteer for adaptive sports, hiking, cycling, participating in adaptive arts, documentary movies and classical plays and music. I also participate in community building, intergenerational activities and other public discourses.
I got my engineering degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1990 with the focus on speech synthesizer hardware design and software programming.
From 1990 to 2002, designed and developed quite a few adaptive hardware and software products such as Braille notetakers, Braille OCR, electronic magnifiers, tactile speaking maps and Braille displays. Founded two start-ups and led the hardware and software development in two mid-size companies.
Led the training for adaptive software and hardware at Humanware from 2002 to 2007 then joined RBC Royal Bank in 2007 and since then have been leading the Digital Accessibility Development team at RBC.
Served as a judge for the 2025 Simon Cox Student Design Competition.
I am a keen follower of accessibility and accommodation product innovations, conferences, hackathons as well as related standards and legislations.
I volunteer for adaptive sports, hiking, cycling, participating in adaptive arts, documentary movies and classical plays and music. I also participate in community building, intergenerational activities and other public discourses.
Dr. Road received his MD degree in 1977 from the University of Saskatchewan. He has practiced medicine in British Columbia since 1985 and worked as a respirologist at VGH and UBC, as well as GF Strong and George Pearson Centre.
He has actively participated in the growth of assisted breathing for the treatment of sleep apnea and those with reduced strength of breathing. He was the medical director of the Provincial Respiratory Outreach Program (PROP) from its inception to 2022.
He is currently a professor Emeritus at UBC and has published multiple papers in medical journals in an effort to improve health outcomes, including quality of life in long term ventilator assisted individuals.
He has been inspired by the members of PROP in the way the human spirit is exemplified so well in them and is delighted to be able to help with the ongoing efforts of the program.
Dr. Road received his MD degree in 1977 from the University of Saskatchewan. He has practiced medicine in British Columbia since 1985 and worked as a respirologist at VGH and UBC, as well as GF Strong and George Pearson Centre.
He has actively participated in the growth of assisted breathing for the treatment of sleep apnea and those with reduced strength of breathing. He was the medical director of the Provincial Respiratory Outreach Program (PROP) from its inception to 2022.
He is currently a professor Emeritus at UBC and has published multiple papers in medical journals in an effort to improve health outcomes, including quality of life in long term ventilator assisted individuals.
He has been inspired by the members of PROP in the way the human spirit is exemplified so well in them and is delighted to be able to help with the ongoing efforts of the program.
Vivian Garcia is full of ideas, she is fiercely independent and she was born to advocate. Vivian broke her spine in 1988. Vivian’s vehicle for advocacy upgraded upon a chance encounter. She was wheeling on the road with her young son skipping along the nearby sidewalk when she met a city employee who stopped to ask her where her normal route was. He basically said, if the city knew her way, they would make curb cuts for her to travel safely. That unknown man, cut a path that showed her how to move forward. You just have to talk to the right person and have a conversation! In time, change will be done. Over the years, Vivian has been involved with helping those who wish to make change to move forward with input from her many ideas, plus their time, skills, research and the money that comes magically from investors and donors into the mix.
Over the past year, Vivian was involved in Technology for Living Seniors and with the Simon Cox Awards. She has hosted the SCI BC Surrey Bean There monthly coffee group since 2015. During Covid 19 Vivian sat as a member on the Corporation of the City of New Westminster’s Covid 19: Seniors and Peoples with Disabilities Task Force.
As a new member to the Board of Directors, Vivian brings her ideas, experience and sense of humour to the table. Outside of advocating, she is involved in research, she cooks, she gardens, she plays and she has a dog that fills her days.
Vivian Garcia is full of ideas, she is fiercely independent and she was born to advocate. Vivian broke her spine in 1988. Vivian’s vehicle for advocacy upgraded upon a chance encounter. She was wheeling on the road with her young son skipping along the nearby sidewalk when she met a city employee who stopped to ask her where her normal route was. He basically said, if the city knew her way, they would make curb cuts for her to travel safely. That unknown man, cut a path that showed her how to move forward. You just have to talk to the right person and have a conversation! In time, change will be done. Over the years, Vivian has been involved with helping those who wish to make change to move forward with input from her many ideas, plus their time, skills, research and the money that comes magically from investors and donors into the mix.
Over the past year, Vivian was involved in Technology for Living Seniors and with the Simon Cox Awards. She has hosted the SCI BC Surrey Bean There monthly coffee group since 2015. During Covid 19 Vivian sat as a member on the Corporation of the City of New Westminster’s Covid 19: Seniors and Peoples with Disabilities Task Force.
As a new member to the Board of Directors, Vivian brings her ideas, experience and sense of humour to the table. Outside of advocating, she is involved in research, she cooks, she gardens, she plays and she has a dog that fills her days.
Monica Gärtner was born with a rare bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta where her bones break easily. She has had hundreds of fractures. Despite her challenges in the spring of 2023, Monica’s journey took a dramatic turn when she faced a life-threatening ordeal with both her lungs collapsing, she almost died. Due to her traumatic experience she received the Courage to Come Back Award in 2024 sponsored by Coast Mental Health. Monica was nominated for the Woman of Distinction award in 2025 for her creation of the Canadian Assisted Travel Society. She is an actor, freelance writer, speaker, and a published author of Overcoming the Impossible: A Life of Trials and Triumphs.
Monica Gärtner was born with a rare bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta where her bones break easily. She has had hundreds of fractures. Despite her challenges in the spring of 2023, Monica’s journey took a dramatic turn when she faced a life-threatening ordeal with both her lungs collapsing, she almost died. Due to her traumatic experience she received the Courage to Come Back Award in 2024 sponsored by Coast Mental Health. Monica was nominated for the Woman of Distinction award in 2025 for her creation of the Canadian Assisted Travel Society. She is an actor, freelance writer, speaker, and a published author of Overcoming the Impossible: A Life of Trials and Triumphs.
I have had a lifelong commitment to ground up community development and I have been involved with BCITS since I helped to develop PROP in 2001 and engineered the creation of BCITS in 2006. I am also passionate about law and policy reform that shifts traditional power balances, which explains my involvement in initiatives like the reform of British Columbia’s adult guardianship laws, the Equipment and Assistive Technology Initiative (EATI), the Medicare Protection Act and the Healthy Communities Movement.
I have had a lifelong commitment to ground up community development and I have been involved with BCITS since I helped to develop PROP in 2001 and engineered the creation of BCITS in 2006. I am also passionate about law and policy reform that shifts traditional power balances, which explains my involvement in initiatives like the reform of British Columbia’s adult guardianship laws, the Equipment and Assistive Technology Initiative (EATI), the Medicare Protection Act and the Healthy Communities Movement.
I am a member of the BCITS’ Board of Directors since its inception. I work full time at BCIT as the Program Head on the teaching faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Technology Program. I am also an Adjunct Professor of the UBC Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program. Other than teaching and coaching young people, I enjoy spending time travelling with my wife and two daughters.
I am a member of the BCITS’ Board of Directors since its inception. I work full time at BCIT as the Program Head on the teaching faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Technology Program. I am also an Adjunct Professor of the UBC Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program. Other than teaching and coaching young people, I enjoy spending time travelling with my wife and two daughters.
