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Karen Milchus

Biography:

Karen Milchus is Co-Director of the national Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Workplace Accommodations, funded by NIDRR. She specializes in identifying and providing educational and vocational accommodations to youth and adults with disabilities, with a particular focus on computer access solutions.

Related to her interest in workplace accommodations, Ms. Milchus is the PI for a grant to develop an expert system to recommend workplace accommodations, recently finished work on an NSF project that investigated the accommodation needs of teachers with disabilities, and was the PI for CATEA's work on Tech Connections, a NIDRR-funded information dissemination project on assistive technology for rehabilitation counselors.

Related to her interest in educational accommodations, Ms. Milchus has led projects supported by the National Science Foundation to disseminate information on how to make science experiments accessible to students with disabilities. Prior to joining CATEA in 1994, Ms. Milchus worked as a Rehabilitation Technologist at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in what is now the Assistive Technology and Assessment Center. While there, she co-authored Wisconsin's procedural manual on transporting students with special needs. Her Master's research was on providing supplementary force feedback to the upper extremity neuroprosthesis developed by the Cleveland FES Center.

Ms. Milchus has certification as an Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP) and is active in RESNA.

Education:

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, M.S. in Biomedical Engineering University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering

Research Interests/Current Projects:

• Workplace accommodations for people with disabilities:
  • Co-Director of the RERC on Workplace Accommodations;
  • PI of the Workplace Accommodation Wizard project which will develop an assessment tool for employers
  • Recently completed an NSF project to study the workplace accommodation needs of science and math teachers with disabilities.
• Technology to make science and math courses accessible to students with disabilities, particularly high school chemistry and physics classes (some of which has been incorporated into the SciTrain web site)
• Computer access for employees and students with disabilities; interest in technology to assist individuals with learning disabilities.

Publications:

Sabata, D., Williams, M. D., Milchus, K., Baker, P. M.A., and Sanford, J. A. (2008). A Retrospective Analysis of Recommendations for Workplace Accommodations for Persons with Mobility and Sensory Limitations. Assistive Technology, 20(1), 28-35.

Milchus, K. (2008). Aging Educators with Disabilities: Experiences with Accommodations. In W. Mann (Ed.), Aging, Disability and Independence: Selected Papers from the 4th International Conference on Aging, Disability and Independence.

Milchus, K. (2007, June). Workplace Accommodations for Educators with Disabilities. Proceedings of the RESNA 30th Annual International Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

Milchus, K. (2007, March). Work Experiences of Educators: Policy Implications for Accommodating Professionals. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference, Los Angeles, CA.

Milchus, K., & Grubbs, R. L. (2007). Work Experiences of Educators with Disabilities. In M. L. Vance (Ed.), Multiple Voices and Identities in Higher Education: Writings by Disabled Faculty and Staff in a Disabling Society (pp. 243-252). Huntersville, NC: Association for Higher Education and Disability.

Training Materials / Broadcasts:

Assistive Technology in the Workplace: Production and Repair Jobs, Tech Connections satellite broadcast and video, May 2001. Script writer.

Assistive Technology in the Workplace: Office and Computer-Related Jobs, Tech Connections satellite broadcast and video, January 2000. Script writer.

Licensures/Certifications:

Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP) Professional Engineer in Training Certification, 6/89

Professional Memberships/Affiliations:

• RESNA: Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (1991-Present); RESNA Education Committee: Vice-Chair (2004-2006), Chair (2006-2008)
• NSTA: National Science Teacher's Association (1999-2005); former member of Special Education Advisory Board and position paper task force on "Science for People with Disabilities"
• AHEAD: Association for Higher Education and Disability (1998-1999); National Conference Local Committee, Atlanta, GA (July, 1999)