Thirty four years ago today, on April 18th, 1984, Neil Squire (new window) passed away. Four years earlier, Neil was studying accounting at the University of Victoria, where he was also a star basketball player. One evening, he hit a patch of black ice only a short distance from his home. His car hit a tree and he severed his C3 and C4 vertebrae. The accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak and reliant on a respirator.

After many months of rehabilitation at the Shaughnessy Hospital Spinal Cord Unit, Neil began working with his relative, an inventor, Bill Cameron (new window). Bill created a sip-and-puff machine from an old teleprinter to help Neil communicate. Neil learned Morse code, and his sips-and-puffs were converted into words on a screen through Bill’s device. This original device was soon replaced by a computer.

By 1984, Neil had moved from Shaughnessy Hospital to an extended care unit at Gorge Road hospital in Victoria. There, many volunteers worked with him and other patients in what had come to be called the Computer Comfort program.

Neil was 24 years old when he died. In lieu of flowers, donations were collected and those funds were used to create the Neil Squire Rehabilitation Society, now known as the Neil Squire Society.

Today we remember Neil.

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