Very sad news. He will be missed.
Liz
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Laycock [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 9:22 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Alan Muller
>
> Those who remember Alan will be sad to hear that he collapsed and
> died outside his home on Wednesday afternoon. He was 61 and had
> been an enthusuastic player in the sector throughout the nineties until
> ill health forced him to take early retirement.
>
> At a time when disability support services are taken for granted (even
> if they don't get all the support they would like) Alan's experience is a
> stark reminder of how things were just a few years ago. He'd done a
> range of physically demanding jobs until his health began to decline
> in his forties. He described himself as a late developer educationally
> and it was while he was on a degree course at Middlesex around
> 1989 that he noticed a fellow student was blind. Despite his own
> difficulties, it grieved him that there was virtually no support available
> for her so he set about investigating talking books, recording lectures
> etc.
>
> When the course ended he made Middlesex an offer they could
> scarcely refuse, namely to set up a disability support service for the
> price of an office and phone line. To fund the service he set up a
> charity called The Able Centre but his success in '93 and '94 with bids
> for HEFCE funding finally made him legitimate in the eyes of the
> University and he was transferred to payroll.
>
> From here on there was no stopping him. He rescued a sign
> language bureau on point of closure by buying it off an LEA for £1,
> then went after Access Centre status. I followed him every step of the
> way and shared his frustration each time he thought he had his
> premises settled only to find they vanished in the University's various
> space saving exercises. Finally he succeeded but the increased
> workload alongside his still declining health proved too much and he
> was forced to retire on health grounds.
>
> Not that that meant fireside and carpet slippers. He never lost his
> interest in disability support which he regarded as the most
> worthwhile phase of his life despite being all too short. He was an
> adviser on building adaptations for a group of architects working for a
> Jewish charity, and only on Monday of this week we attended an IT
> trainers training day together. On our way home he commented that
> he would just have time for a rest and something to eat before
> attending the fitness committee of his local gym, of which he was
> chair (of course) and fitness programme organiser.
>
> Like everything he did, he did it with passion.
>
> Dave Laycock
>
> Head of CCPD
> Chair of NADO
> Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
> University of Westminster
> 72 Great Portland Street
> London W1N 5AL
>
> tel. 020 7911-5161
> fax. 020 7911-5162
> WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
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