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About Gary
Picture of Gary Karp

Gary Karp is an internationally recognized public speaker, corporate trainer, facilitator, author, and editor.

He has been living — fully — with a T12 spinal cord injury since 1973 when he was injured in a fall from a tree at the age of eighteen.

For his unique and extensive contributions to disability awareness, in 2007 Gary was inducted into the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame as a disability educator.

Since his injury, Gary has earned a graduate degree in architecture, worked for eleven years in the presentation graphics industry as a designer and production manager, then began providing ergonomics training and consultation services to companies in the San Francisco Bay Area where he lives with his wife Labrador Retriever, Trilby.

He is the author of two books:

"Life On Wheels: For the Active Wheelchair User"

"Disability & the Art of Kissing"

All widely reviewed as definitive guides for people with disabilities.

His book of essays by people with spinal cord injuries — co-edited with Stanley Klein Ph.D. — is titled "From There To Here: Stories of Adjustment to Spinal Cord Injury," and consists of 45 intimate, readable stories which reveal the deep, internal process of how people mover from trauma to meaning. (From There To Here is currently out of print, though will soon be available as an eBook.)

His investigative articles and profiles have appeared regularly in New Mobility magazine, and he is a former board member of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA) for whom he served two years as Executive Editor of their bi-monthly newspaper, SCILife.

A very highly-regarded speaker, Gary is sponsored in part by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, which funds his speaking in rehabilitation settings and to university students of physical and occupational therapy.

As a corporate trainer on disability and employment Gary makes the business case for working with employees with disabilities. He creates a safe and interactive environment to discuss what some find an uncomfortable topic — and in the process helps bring workplace culture up to speed on the dramatic emergence of people with disabilities — as candidates, and an existing employee's capacity to stay on the job or return more efficiently.

Also an accomplished musician and juggler, he has produced a CD of original guitar music and brings his juggling skills to bear in his appearances as a speaker and in his training.

 
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Studio photo of Gary Karp © CharlieSamuels.com