(Photo Credit: Raytheon)
Don Chan has always had the mind of an engineer. Any time he sees a problem, he seeks a solution.
In middle school, back in the late 1970s, he had trouble completing assignments quickly; he was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that affects motor coordination. It slowed his handwriting speed.
Then he found computers. His school had the Commodore PET, and later his parents bought him an Apple II+.
“It was a real game-changer, because it made doing my homework so much easier,” said Chan, an electrical engineer at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business. “I even taught some of my high school teachers how to use computers, including my biology instructor who I wrote a simple program for, which helped him in the classroom.”
Chan is among the company’s advocates for employees with disabilities. For the past seven years, he has served as the site director of the Raytheon Alliance for Diverse Abilities employee resource group, which works to make sure all employees feel empowered to reach their full potential through accessibility, advocacy, networking and education.
Continue reading the story on the Raytheon website.
Pictured above: Don Chan, a Raytheon Intelligence & Space electrical engineer, works in his RI&S office in Goleta, Calif., with his service dog, Matias. Chan has worked for the company 33 years, and he currently designs circuit boards for electronic warfare systems.
