It’s rather amazing that such a simple assistive technology device can make things a lot easier on people who need to use walkers to accomplish even simple tasks, such as taking food from the kitchen to the dining table. Student Jay Price, a mechanical engineering student at University of Colorado at Boulder, watched his father struggle with these issues for years as a patient with Multiple Sclerosis. When the opportunity arose for him to combine his profession with helping fellow sufferers, he jumped at it.

“I have seen firsthand the positive impact that a well-designed assistive device can have on the quality of life of a person who is disabled, and I have also seen how useless a poorly designed device can be,” said Price, who along with his fiancé, Katie Hauser, is co-leading team Blue Fish in the Boulder MS walk May 10. The annual event raises funds to aid research on multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that Hauser also is facing.

“This disease has already taken so much away from me. I try to do as much as I can to help put an end to its devastating effects,” Price said.