I’ve been living in a wheelchair for the past 5 and a half years. It’s gotten to the point where it doesn’t bother me most of the time. I can just go ahead and live what feels to me like a normal life most of the time.

Except when I want to kiss my wife and kids. They have to bend over and strain their backs when we want to kiss. And hugging is a bit of a drag since they have to get in my lap for a real hug. Otherwise, it’s just one of those sterile cheek-hugging, pat-on-the-back things.

This summer, I have the privilege of working with Empax to design a campaign to show the overwhelming public support for embryonic stem cell research. Not the easiest undertaking, but definitely a great design challenge. And as a designer originally from the world of non-profits and social reform, from education to disability rights advocacy, it is a project for which I feel well suited -- personally and professionally. All of this is to say, I am honored to be joining up with Martin and the team at Empax on this endeavor.

How absurd to think that one man - indeed one president - can control
medical destiny with the flick of a pen. How tragic it is when
governed by misguided beliefs and skewed ideals this man - indeed
this president - destroys (no matter how temporarily) the hopes of
millions by limiting the ability of science to eliminate killer
illness and disease. And how heartbreaking it is that religious
politics has managed to influence this one man - this unduly powerful
president - to the point that progress, which is everyone's right,
has been halted dead in its tracks by virtue of a veto.

I’m the office manager and researcher at Empax. Being extremely interested in how society views and acquiesces to social change – specifically, how perception dictates political realities – I can’t help but get excited about the prospects of helping out, especially for a project like this.