Advancing Universal Design through Partnership between Occupational Therapy and Engineering (Episode 114)

Nancy Peters, OTR/L, has been an occupational therapist for over 45 years. She attended the University of Buffalo at a time when there were not many occupational therapy schools in the country and the profession was fairly young. Upon graduation, she was offered a job at one of her fieldworks, the Buffalo VA Hospital, and worked there for 3 years until she left at the birth of her first child. Her next job was at Robert Warner Rehabilitation Center, providing therapeutic services for children. From there she became a school-based OT at Akron Central Schools. Nancy "retired" from the school job only to be called back into service at Summit Rehabilitation. Each job change required some study and continuing education to get up to speed with the different populations she was working with, but her OT background of looking at the whole person and helping them solve obstacles to their "occupation" made each job very fulfilling. Currently Nancy is working as a partner in DNS Designs, a company of which she is a co-founder along with her son and family friend, both of whom are engineers. The trio invented a product called Magzip and developed the brands are Ankhgear and Magzip using the motto "Innovations to Improve Life." Nancy has certifications in Infant Massage and Family Bonding and in Eastwest Somatics for Movement Therapy. She has taken multiple levels of CranioSacral Therapy, all levels of Reiki, Evaluation and Treatment of Sensory Processing Disorders, LomiLomi, Redefining Health from the Maryland University of Integrative Health, and numerous continuing education courses in diverse areas of study. She is a lifelong learner who delights in new information that can positively impact people's lives. On this episode, Nancy shares about her path into the profession of occupational therapy almost 5 decades ago and the many formative experiences she has had over the course of her career as an OT practitioner. She talks about her business venture, the beauty of universal design, and the development of the products like MagZip. As a special perk for listeners of the On The Air podcast, Ankgear is offering a 15% discount on anything on the website Ankhgear.com. The code for that is ONTHEAIR15.To connect with Nancy:Email: [email protected] IG: @otrnancyFB page: @AnkhgearWebsite: www.Ankhgear.com and www.dnsdesignsllc.com