Burton D Pusch

Burton D. Pusch is an author, activist, athlete and artist.

Pusch was born with, in his own words, "unique architecture" or using more conventional terms: congenital disabilities (3 fingers and a "leg and a half") in Wisconsin. At age 4, he exhibited an early talent for drawing and playing the piano which made his mother (Evelyn Pusch) a professionally trained artist and lithographer, very happy. During his teens his drawings and paintings were featured in several local exhibitions and he wrote several works for the piano. Upon graduating from Calvin College in 1981, he was invited to study Independent Living in Europe as part of a three-week graduate program. In his early twenties, Pusch got involved with the Disability Civil Rights movement and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the mid-1980s he co-Founded the Purdy Prison Pet Partnership at the Washington Corrections Center for Women at Purdy, Washington where women inmates train service dogs for persons with disabilities. In the ensuing 3 decades he has trained 4 services dogs to help him with his everyday activities. During the 1980s he also began competing in sports: specifically swimming and downhill snow skiing where he broke several regional records for his classification. He has published multiple articles and a book entitled Interacting with Persons with Disabilities: An Etiquette Handbook. In 2001 he entered Subiaco Abbey, as Br. Peter, a Benedictine Monk. He received a Doctorate in Rehabilitation in 2003. He left the monastery in 2005 and returned to teaching at post-secondary institutions. In 2010 he began serving as a consultant on the national Medicare/Medicaid combined demonstration project for persons with disabilities who have complex health care needs. He is a motivational speaker.