Bruce Curtis is a for-real role model, using his years of living with his disability and his job with Berkeley's World Institute on Disability, to provide mobility training and adaptive devices to newly disabled people in war-torn Iraq. Even more than the challenges of an inaccessible environment, Curtis told Oakland Tribune correspondent Barbara Grady that attitudes and not picturing a future for people with disabilities are the biggest barriers to success for Iraqis.

Curtis is a quadriplegic who trains disabled Iraqis in how to handle the daily challenges of their disabilities. He helps them with using wheelchairs and learning how to advocate for their rights in a country where the disabled have few opportunities.