By Gary Rice

October marked the observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). Created by presidential proclamation in 1945, this annual observation promotes the employment of people with disabilities. This year’s theme was ‘New Freedom for the 21st Century,’ and one handicapped employee at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Depot Cherry Point has done a lot to increase that freedom for all disabled persons.

“I ride a motorcycle, a trike, and I got the first handicapped motorcycle license plate to be issued in North Carolina,” Jeff Welch, aerospace engineering technician, said. “It took some doing to get it, but it was something I felt I had to accomplish, not just for myself, but for handicapped people throughout the state.”

Welch has been riding his Harley Davidson for 18 years. He was born with spina bifida, a congenital cleft of the spinal column, and cannot walk. But as his ability to ride his trike proves, he is not confined to his wheelchair. He felt handicapped motorcyclists should be entitled to reserved parking privileges just like car or truck drivers and decided that what he needed was a handicapped license plate for his trike.

“I went to the local DMV first, and they told me it couldn’t be done,” Welch explained. “That made me angry, because if I hang a regular handicapped placard on the handlebar, the wind will blow it off, or it will be stolen, and I’ll get a ticket for illegal parking. The guy at DMV said I could replace a lost placard for $5, but I said I’d have to replace it every week, and that’s ridiculous. I needed a license plate. Florida and Pennsylvania were already using them, so I contacted the person in charge of handicapped plates at the DMV in Raleigh, who is a former high school teacher of mine. He energetically pursued my request but could get nowhere with it. He told me it would take a bill in congress to authorize the state to create a handicapped motorcycle license plate.”

Undaunted, Welch did not give up. He contacted state Rep. Wayne Sexton of Rockingham County, who advised Welch to undertake a letter writing campaign and drum up support. With the Concerned Bikers Association as his sponsor, and with the help of numerous handicapped and elderly people and organizations, Welch spearheaded a campaign to contact congressional representatives, the American Motorcycle Association, and other government officials. His work paid off.

Using the Florida and Pennsylvania bills as models, Sexton wrote a bill for North Carolina and introduced it in the state House of Representatives, but it was never voted on. Once the DMV learned that the bill had been introduced, they decided to act voluntarily. They ordered the Department of Corrections to create a die and produce motorcycle-size license plates containing the letters HD for handicapped and the handicapped symbol. In 1997, two years after he first contacted the DMV, Welch received his license plate.

“I’m very proud of my accomplishment,” Welch said, “and the fact that I got the very first motorcycle plate they made is very special to me.”

Welch has been working at the depot since May 1989. In his job in the Integration & Design Division, he produces a wide range of engineering drawings, component modification drawings, and wiring diagrams. His drawings detail the many different processes involving any aircraft part that is produced, modified, removed, or installed at the depot.

The NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point provides maintenance, engineering, and logistics support on a wide variety of aircraft, engines, and components for all branches of the U.S. armed forces. The depot’s mission is to support NAVAIR in providing the American warfighter with absolute combat power through mastery of six broad categories of naval aviation technologies: sensors, aircraft, weapons, training, launch and recovery, and communications.

Employing almost 4,000 people, the depot is the only source of repair within the continental United States for many jet and rotary wing engines. It is the Navy’s center of excellence for rotary wing aircraft, providing engineering and logistics support for all Navy helicopters.

“I’m crazy about my job,” Welch said. “It’s always interesting and challenging. I enjoy solving problems and like the idea of upgrading these old military aircraft with the latest technology. I feel like I’ve been doing this sort of thing all my life due to my handicap. I always re-designed my wheelchairs, bicycles, and go-carts as a kid, and I modified my trike, too. It’s just something I love to do.”

Welch was born at Camp Lejeune, the son of a career Marine Corps aviation supply officer. He says he can relate very well to the Marines at the depot due to his father. He has always called eastern Carolina home but has been all over the country and the world. He says he particularly enjoyed living in Yokosuka, Japan, and Yuma, Ariz.

Prior to coming to the depot, Welch worked for the Coast Guard in Elizabeth City. Before that, he held a variety of drafting jobs in machine shops in and around Greensboro. Among his hobbies, Welch says he particularly likes to build and shoot firearms, both pistols and rifles.

“I love the physics of it,” he said. “Mass times velocity squared.”

Currently, more than 47,000 people with disabilities work for DoD, including 6,000 with severe disabilities.

Photo 1: Aerospace Engineering Technician Jeff Welch uses the handicapped access ramp outside of his office at Building 200, NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point. The ramp was constructed for him immediately after he began working at the depot in 1989. (Photo by Gary Rice)

Photo 2: With his wheelchair folded and stowed behind him, Jeff Welch poses on his customized Harley Davidson trike. He has been riding the trike for 18 years.