Engineering Spotlight
Gary Birch
Improving the lives of those living with disabilities—engineer named Officer of the Order of Canada, recognized by UBC Alumni Affairs
Reprinted from Ingenuity | Fall/Winter 2009
Electrical Engineering Adjunct Professor and alumnus Gary Birch (BASc ’83, PhD ’88) has been appointed Officer of the Order of Canada—the highest honour that Canada can give its citizens—in recognition of his outstanding achievements and lifetime of service to the country and humanity at large.
Birch is honoured for his contributions to the Neil Squire Society, which develops programs, services and assistive technology for people with physical disabilities, and for his determination and ingenuity in helping Canadians with disabilities achieve a higher quality of life. Birch is the executive director and director of research and development for the society.
His accomplishments, already impressive by any standard, are even more remarkable considering a serious car accident rendered him a quadriplegic and threatened to short-circuit his electrical engineering career.
“I hung on to the dream,” Birch explains. Occupational and physiotherapists who helped with his rehabilitation told him that anything was possible, and Birch bought into it.
While undergoing therapy at GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, he noticed technology designed to assist people and thought more could be done; he soon aspired to developing assistive technologies.
But the path to his goal still remained unclear in his third year of engineering studies. Until, that is, robotics engineer Bill Cameron spoke to his class and mentioned he was helping his nephew, Neil Squire—a high-level quadriplegic—use a computer.
“Pow,” says Birch. “I shot down at the end to tell him I would love to get involved.”
Birch and a fellow student eventually taught Squire to communicate by computer. Upon Squire’s death in 1984, Cameron incorporated the Neil Squire Society, and Birch joined the society full-time after completing graduate school.
During his first year of graduate studies, Birch had begun work on a brain-computer interface (BCI) project using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Under Professor Peter Lawrence’s supervision, Birch focused on a novel approach to processing EEGs and the ability to create finger movement via the signals.
“The biggest barrier to technology for people with disabilities is finding a way for them to control it,” says Birch.
Twenty years later, the BCI research team is on the threshold of creating a prototype but still faces hurdles. Further testing is needed, and the electrode-fitted skullcap currently worn by test subjects is neither user-friendly nor practical for long-term use. A wireless and cosmetically appealing alternative must be designed before the technology can advance. Useful BCI technology is still five to 15 years away.
“Anything that claims to be commercially available right now doesn’t work in any practical fashion,” says Birch.
Recently, under Birch’s leadership, the society has shifted its research focus away from product development and toward industry lobbying. Birch explains that the shift came about in equal parts from hope in new technology and frustration over the rapid advancement of emerging technology.
“No sooner do we develop concepts for the use of products by quadriplegics then the manufacturer will do something innocent, like change their operating system. All our work becomes obsolete,” says Birch.
Birch says current industry and future designers must understand that accessible technology needs to be considered at the design stage, when it is easier and less expensive to incorporate.
The accessibility of technology notwithstanding, Birch says the real work that remains is to improve the attitude and awareness of society towards those living with disabilities.
“It’s changing,” he says, “but we still have a long way to go.”
