So, who is David Hart?
Although the work of David Hart has attracted much media attention over the years, most editors would seem to have thought that it made a better story to omit his professional background and portray him as an eccentric inventor who happened to discover that he could help special children.
Although these reports have generated great interest, they left many people in the dark regarding the knowledge and experience behind the equipment, and although he has always been pleased to answer those who ask "...and what were you before you invented this?" the following extracts from a more accurate published interview may help provide answers for those who remain curious:
"I descend from a family of inventors, probably the most famous of whom being Samuel Crompton, the inventor of the Spinning Mule. With my grandfather and father also having patented inventions, I suppose it was inevitable that I would inherit the inventor's curse of laying awake all night trying to redesign the bed!
In 1968 I secured a research and development post with a large medical engineering company on contract to the Ministry of Health and gradually worked my way up the management tree until I found myself responsible for both the company's manufacturing unit and its research and development.
Still in my twenties I decided to dedicate all of my time to research. This move resulted in the development of many medical products, including that of the myo-electronic artificial hand and powered surgical instrumentation, which, under the scrutiny of a highly qualified surgeon, allowed me to enter the operating theatre in order to use and assess the performance of the equipment for myself. Fortunately the patients were fast asleep and totally unaware of who was rearranging their anatomy with experimental equipment!
In 1988, having spent twenty years at the stimulating edge of research and development, I embarked upon what was to become my last project for 'the company'. The self-inflicted task was that of designing body-bracing which would allow paraplegics to stand and walk. My plan was to develop the aid in three stages, starting with walking, then the ability to sit and stand from any chair with ease, and finally to providing the patient with the ability to climb stairs.
When news escaped of having successfully assisted two patients accomplish the first two stages of this project, I was persuaded to present my work to the medical profession at a specially arranged seminar before moving onto the most demanding stage of the project. With the help of a splendid demonstration by two young adult patients who, through traffic accidents had been rendered paralysed from chest-level, the results were received with enthusiasm and excitement by the large gathering of UK specialists.
Sadly, this enthusiasm proved to be too good and shortly after the seminar I was politely notified that the 'gods' had deemed the equipment more than good enough without the patients being able to climb stairs and although I argued that the real world was not flat, I was firmly requested to start organising my schedule for teaching orthotists how to fit the equipment.
This was by no means the first time that I had expressed concern with regard to how patients had been denied the benefits of what I knew could be developed to help them and, having tried to come to my own terms with this latest situation, I decided to leave the security of my professional position and establish my own organisation through which I could continue this work. Or, to put it another way, I decided to commit professional suicide.
Having taken a JCB to the grounds of my home, I took delivery of a large portable building with "Clinic" written over its doors and having accumulated a small but very well equipped engineering workshop over the years, I was about to recommence work on the stair-climbing brace to help paraplegics when I received a call from a colleague asking if I would consider trying to help a young boy who was suffering from the effects of cerebral palsy.
Little did I know that my visit to meet this young boy would change my life. Despite being held prisoner in a body that was intent upon keeping his natural intelligence a secret, his eyes smiled and informed me that all my plans for the future had just been rewritten."