Page 10 - Mobility Management, June 2018

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ISS 2018: Consumers Inform Practice in Vancouver
VANCOUVER, B.C. — The International Seating Symposium (ISS) is a smart and popular choice for clinicians and Assistive Technology Professionals (ATPs) looking to network and learn — and the long-time Westin Bayshore venue in even-numbered years makes that decision even easier. A record number of seating and wheeled mobility professionals gathered for this edition, sponsored by Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and the University of British Columbia’s Interprofessional Continuing Education.
word can’t and replaced it with try. Watson’s theme was “Finding Your True Dream: The North Star for Your Life’s Journey.” As she’s worked as an accessibility specialist, writer and speaker, Hyatt said, “I decided to let myself be terrified, but to keep going. I challenge you to own your own uniqueness.”
It was an apt message for an industry specializing in customizing solutions for complex clients — and often needing to find unique ways to make that happen. ISS 2019 will be hosted by the University of Pittsburgh in its hometown. The call for papers for the theme Bridging the Gap from Data to Value runs through June 30. m
— Photos & story by Laurie Watanabe
What About 2020?
Whenever it’s time for the University of British Columbia and Sunny Hills Health Centre to host the International Seating Symposium (ISS), the question always comes up: Will it be at the Westin Bayshore or somewhere else?
For this year’s ISS, the renovated Bayshore showed off an upscale H Tasting Lounge and a new H2 Bar (Howard Hughes, we were told by a hostess, once called the Bayshore home). Still, rumors abounded, as they have every year, that this ISS was the last one at the Westin.
ISS Co-Chair David Cooper laid that possibility to rest on opening day, telling attendees in his welcome address that the Canadian editions of the ISS will remain at the Bayshore “probably forever,” and certainly for 2020. The complex rehab industry will be enjoying this venue’s beautiful views for a good while longer. m— L.W.
Co-chairs David Cooper and Maureen Story welcomed attendees.
Co-chairs David Cooper and Maureen Story welcomed attendees on Wednesday, March 7, to the official opening of the symposium, though pre-sym- posium educa- tional activities and a Consumer Day in the expo
hall had provided plenty of action on Monday and Tuesday. In their Wednesday opening, Cooper and Story announced that 1,032 people — not counting exhibitors — had registered for the event. Those attendees came from North America and a long list of other locations, including Argentina, Australia, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Taiwan and Tasmania.
Those attendees included relative newcomers — highly relevant to an industry that has wondered where the next generation of complex rehab technology specialists will come from. At this ISS, 7 percent of attendees had more than 30 years of industry experi- ence... but 28 percent had been in the industry five years or less.
This year’s ISS theme was Consumers Informing Practice, and the voice of the seating and wheeled mobility end user was strong throughout the conference. The opening keynote speaker was Glenda Watson Hyatt, a British Columbia resident and author of I’ll Do It Myself. Watson, who has cerebral palsy, describes herself as a “badass agitator” raised by parents who banished the
10 JUNE2018|MOBILITYMANAGEMENT
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