So now jump ahead a couple of years. You’re on the job – whatever that turns out to be. You’re responsible for taking part in the selection of assistive technology the consumers of your services. You need some rules to live by. Philosophy isn’t going to cut it; you need "The Twelve Essentials."

Each of these will show itself again and again throughout this course. What works as an introduction now should serve you well as an in-service checklist. Ultimately, you will want to add additional essentials of your own as you develop insights from your practice.

You will also want to remember the essential of all essentials: Even if you forget all the rules laid out below, you will need to learn to think – analytically, exhaustively, creatively, and jointly with others.

Over the course of the next several pages, we will discuss "The Twelve Essentials" in detail.