That moment will cap a long and dramatic journey for Whitney, who was instantly paralyzed in 2007 when a car accident severed his spinal cord. In the four years that passed, life lessons were learned, Whitney’s spirit rebounded, and technological advances were explored. Last year, Whitney began working with a team of UC Berkeley engineers developing exoskeletons, wearable robotics that look like souped-up leg braces, and found himself imagining the unimaginable – a graduation walk.