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| (Photographer: U.S. Department of Transportation) |
Cal State Long Beach graduate Richard Devylder was born without arms or legs. He is now a presidential appointee in Washington, D.C., advising the White House on accessibility policies in the United States.
Devylder also met President Barack Obama at the 20th anniversary of the American Disabilities Act reception and recently finished working on a national policy in September that deals with accessibility and integration for people with disabilities on trains and metros.
As a child, he was placed in the foster care system with his foster family in Whittier.
At 7 years old, he began to realize he was disabled.
"My foster family helped me in accepting my disabilities," Devylder said. "Looking back, I asked my parents to throw away the fake arms in the trash ... they were heavy and they caused my skin to break out in rashes."
Devylder remembers his foster parents as being instrumental in helping him make his own decisions when it came to his disability and learning how to do things on his own without prosthetics.
When Devylder was in the first grade, his parents made the decision to take him out of public school.
"It was more like baby sitting," Devylder said. "There was no structure for learning because it was special education. They didn't have the same curricular as other students. It wasn't an educational opportunity because my issue wasn't learning, it was the physical."
Still, Devylder learned how to adjust to the classroom.
"Kids did it with their hands, and I did it with a pencil in my mouth," Devylder said.
During Devylder's adolescence he developed a love for athletics.
He discovered swimming was his favorite form of exercise, and basketball was his obsessive past time.
At CSULB, Devylder said he was launched into dealing with disability and civil rights.
During his undergraduate studies at CSULB, he began to work with Disabled Student Services, and credits his communication professor for helping him make a decision to work for the Southern California Rehabilitation Services and Independent Living.
"Having a degree was critical — No. 1 — because I needed to show people I had the intellect, and No. 2 that I had the ability to finish the program," said Devylder, who graduated from CSULB in 1992.
In May of 2010, Devylder received the call for the position of a lifetime.
"I got a message on my phone, if I wanted to go to D.C. and work for administration," he said.
In his new position as adviser for Accessible Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation, Devylder has many opportunities.
"My role is to advise on national policies and proposals to the secretary," Devylder said.
Devylder is a man who has never let adversity get in the way of his dreams.
With a work schedule of about 60 hours a week, Devylder said, "I am going to do this as long as I can. The thrive is that I have one of the greatest jobs in the country, that I can impact transportation and accessibility and equality for people with disabilities."
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