A spotlight on two volunteers who are making our world more accessible

Today, Engineers Without Borders USA is proud to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day #GAAD #accessibility—a day dedicated to recognizing the importance of accessibility in both digital and physical spaces. For example, in 2024, we launched a comprehensive overhaul of our website and digital presence to ensure that everyone can more easily learn about and engage with our work online.

Of course, much of what we do happens on the ground—in communities across the U.S. and around the world—where accessibility takes on tangible, everyday importance. In honor of this day, we're shining a light on several of our incredible volunteers who have spent their careers advancing accessibility and continue to bring their invaluable expertise to EWB-USA.

Chris Zawislak: 'Whatever we designed had to meet the community’s needs'

I was part of a robotics team that won a national championship my senior year in high school. We got good at having our robot balance on a ramp. It had tracks and its arms extended to hold on to uprights.

The competition was held at Walt Disney World. We got medals and met Dean Kaman (inventor of the Segway and iBOT). A news crew from Good Morning America was there, but I don’t know if they showed anything.

I went to college at the University of Utah and started out as a software engineering major. But I got jealous of the civil engineers who were outside all the time, so I switched and ended up with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

I got my first job through a connection with Engineers Without Borders USA. I was doing stormwater design work through a new chapter at the university and had a job interview. It turned out the person I interviewed with knew me from that EWB-USA work and hired me.

Accessibility has been important to me since my time with the Utah Department of Transportation. Utah was rebuilding roads, but made ADA compliance something of a side quest. They were sued and in 2009 I started on work building sidewalks statewide. It was an eye opener.

I took a continuing education course on ADA. As part of that we were blindfolded or put in a wheelchair and left to find our way around. I had to make my wheelchair go uphill or navigate a high curb. I got a real understanding of why ADA access measures are the way they are.

For almost all projects, we need to think about accessibility. Our jobs are to create accessibility for the people we serve.

In 2006, I was an EWB-USA project lead for a water project in Honduras. It was a three-part project with the University of Utah chapter. We worked in the town of Los Achiotes, which only has around 160 families. The families used to hand-carry water from a spring to the town. We built a springbox, a half-mile-long distribution line, and washbasins known as pilas outside each house.

We stayed with the community in the local school and at night slept in sleeping bags. We learned that whatever we designed had to meet the community’s needs. They had already invented the wheel, we just needed to add an axle.

Right now, I am helping the University of Maryland Baltimore County chapter through EWB-USA’s Domestic Program, the Community Engineering Corps (CECorps), on an accessibility project for a Baptist church in Philadelphia. The church has a lot of older members and also has a lot of stairs. Because of the congregation’s limited financial resources, we need to watch our costs.

The plan is to present several design solutions to the church leadership. One is to build an external ramp to allow people to gain entry, then use a lift structure to move up and down through the building. We also have found some potential grant opportunities, which could help pay for the project.

EWB-USA is very community focused, and we know that we need to present a solution that works. A core part of our process is to really see the communities we are working in.

Gary Feuerstein: ‘Gratifying to see the community come together’

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest where my dad managed JC Penney stores in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. The Easter dress-up in my family always was an occasion. The store in Butte, Montana, offered what was probably the most sophisticated clothing opportunity for miners and farmers in the region.

My dad also was a carpenter, as was my grandfather. I worked as a carpenter during summers when I studied Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University. My dad’s practical wisdom was to look for business opportunities in engineering. That sparked my interest in managing projects.

I started my own architectural/engineering firm in 1980. The retirement community industry was just getting started and it was centered in the area. Three of the industry’s leaders lived in the Pacific Northwest and they all had worked together.

My firm offered support services to other architects and engineers in that industry, and bathrooms were our territory. When you think about barriers in buildings and ensuring accessibility, mechanical engineering plays a big role. Design specifications for bathroom plumbing hadn’t changed in 100 years. The toilet was a 19th century invention. All the materials were very predictable.

When architects began to design to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, the rules changed. Everything from parking lots to alarms, communications, and of course bathroom shower stalls had to be in compliance. Our role was to account for the layouts and fixtures based on the ADA. The business grew to around 35 states.

I sold the business to an employee in 2007 and took on a role with the U.S. Department of State as a facilities manager. I was stationed in Morocco, Baghdad, and Beijing. I grew up in a remote part of the U.S., so the cultural exposure was wonderful. When that role ended, it left a big gap for me; I really enjoyed learning about cultures. That led me to get in touch with EWB-USA.

Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Dominica in 2017. Around 90% of the buildings were damaged. Around three-quarters of those were totally uninhabitable, and the damage estimate was around 250% of gross domestic product. The situation was very helpless; there were few people who had any experience with redevelopment.

I was part of a team from EWB-USA and the United National Development Programme responsible for supervising reconstruction, including materials arriving on the island.

Domenica had only around 50,000 people, so it was a case of everyone knowing everyone. I made some great friendships and it was gratifying to see the community come together.

In my more recent role with EWB-USA’s Domestic Program, the Community Engineering Corps (CE Corps), I have developed projects from concept to a cohesive package set for funding. I worked with the town of Chiloquin, Oregon, an 800-person community in the southern part of the state, to develop an engineering package for a combined emergency center and city hall. In December 2024 the project was awarded $16 million from a grant program through the Environmental Protection Agency. The project funding is uncertain given budget cuts at the agency.

EWB-USA does its best to bring engineering skills to wherever they are needed. We all have a pretty deep appreciation for the inequalities that exist around the world.