legal services
expert witness and forensic testing
Peter W. Axelson
expert on all mobility devices
Peter is an expert on all mobility devices, including manual wheelchairs, powered wheelchairs, scooters, adaptive ski equipment, rollators, walkers, hospital gurneys, as well as ADA access issues.
evidence and experience
All claims are based on evidence found in testing the actual model of the equipment and area involved in the incident in question, as well as personal experience with access issues while using mobility devices.
representative for both plaintiff and defendant
our services
experience
Peter W. Axelson, Benficial Designs, Inc. Director of Research & Development, has been an expert witness on hundreds of cases throughout the United States. His expertise can be used as a resource for attorneys and clients with cases pertaining to any mobility device or assistive technology including but not limited to: wheelchairs, wheelchair seating, wheelchair vehicle lifts, and transportation safety.
Beneficial Designs, Inc. has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants and supports all of their opinions with extensive inspections, measurements, testing, and personal experience. Beneficial Designs uses the actual model of the equipment involved in the incident being tried, as well as the specific conditions of the site involved.
expertise
Our expertise is specialized in wheelchair testing, standards, procedures and specifications, accessibility guidelines, ADA guidelines and regulations, ISO standards, RESNA standards, accessible fitness equipment, accessible recreational and leisure activities, surface measurement, disability issues, negligence and product liability. Mr. Axelson also has training in the writing of warnings from the Practicing Law Institute.
research and advancement
In 1995, in a case relating to hazardous seating systems which resulted in asphyxiation in child users, a plaintiff reserved funding which enabled Peter, in conjunction with fellow RESNA scholars, to publish a paper bringing awareness and encouraging standards to prevent the strangulation of children in wheelchairs.
Our work doesn’t end with a closed case. When liabilities or substandard qualities are revealed in mobility products Peter is dedicated to researching, exposing, and finding solutions to inefficiencies in current mobility technology.
about Peter
Peter W. Axelson received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design in 1979 and an M.S.M.E. degree in Smart Product Design in 1982, both from Stanford University. Peter has over 30 years of experience as a wheelchair user as a result of a spinal cord injury he sustained while serving as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. He is the founder and the Director of Research & Development at Beneficial Designs, Inc., a rehabilitation engineering design firm established in 1981 that works towards universal access through research, design, and education. Beneficial Designs provides consulting services for the design and testing of mobility devices as well as user manuals for the devices.
Peter is currently Secretary of the RESNA Standards Committee on Wheelchairs and has previously chaired the committee for 26 years. Peter is also a member of the ASTM Playground Surfacing Systems and Fitness Products Subcommittees. In addition, he has served on the American Trails Board of Directors, and has been a member of the Recreation Access Advisory Committee to the U.S. Access Board (U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board) and also the Regulatory Negotiation Committee on Outdoor Developed Area Guidelines.