In 1979 I saw a need for an ACT branch of TAD which had been inaugurated in Sydney by George Winston AM, now a great friend. Ross Hohnen (ANU Registrar) became our first Chairman to kick us off – with me as Design Coordinator).
I saw it as a natural outlet for putting design into really useful play – a theme I had been working on as Chair of a joint committee of the Industrial Design Council of Australia and the Independent Living Centre of Victoria (~1978) which was trying to achieve better designed products for people with disabilities. It was at that time that I met Elaine Abbott (Nursing Manager) in Melbourne at BHP which led to the 13yr saga of the Lift Care geriatric nursing bed (see also Disability Aids Collective separate entry in DFW DISABILITY).
This was a busy period in my life but very fulfilling in that I was able to show how design could be so readily integrated into so many areas of activity. It worked well, introducing design principles and practices into voluntary activities without the interference of business and money – really synergistic.