Since leaving the House, Gingrich has been developing ideas on 21st century health-care policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. Soon, he will host his own radio program. And he has found a new passion: empowering people with disabilities through assistive technology. I spoke with Gingrich recently at his Washington office. It is the first interview he has granted since leaving the House. I have heard many horror stories about Newt Gingrich. I found him to be brilliant, loquacious, witty, and a good listener. He clearly sees disabled people as people first, and as citizens who can contribute to society. Here are excerpts from our conversation:

Q: What motivated you to become involved in the disability arena?
A: Three very different reasons. First, I believe in the commitment of the Declaration of Independence, that we are all endowed by our creator with the right to pursue happiness. That right has to include everybody, and so there is a moral imperative to truly include everyone in America's goals of liberty and opportunity.

Second, as a science-fiction fan and as a student of science, I really do not see why we can't use the most advanced science and technology to liberate and to empower people, including people with disabilities, to become fully integrated into society.

Third, because in 1980, a couple in Fayette County, Ga., in the district that I represented at the time, challenged me to spend 24 hours in a wheelchair. I accepted so I could learn how many ways people with disabilities have been locked out from having access to your community, and how difficult and inconvenient it was for people using wheelchairs to get around. It was a remarkable 24 hours. After that experience, I was convinced that we have the opportunity to dramatically enhance the quality of life and to pursue happiness for people with disabilities.

Q: Did you support the Americans with Disabilities Act?
A: I did. I was involved with its passage, working with former U.S. House of Representatives members Steve Gunderson and Tony Coelho, who were in many ways the driving forces. Everything I have seen to date in the disability field has convinced me that we need to rethink government policies toward disabled people. We also need to rethink empowering disabled people and then optimize their ability to live with independence, pride, and dignity.

Q: You were also involved in the disability movement as Speaker, correct?
A: After I became Speaker of the House, we had local parents and citizens who were directly involved in the disability field provide us with input on the problems people with disabilities face daily. We had town hall meetings for people with disabilities. Because some of these people had educational and financial assets, they led dramatically fuller lives than they would have if they had been treated as wards of the state.

Q: Do you have family members who have disabilities?
A: I have family members who have disabilities in terms of mental illness. My mother has had a bipolar disease (a form of manic depression) for 30 years. I have a schizophrenic relative who has been regularly hospitalized for at least 25 years. These experiences have created a real awareness for me of the challenges disabled people face. I also have several friends whose children have Down's syndrome. So I know we have an obligation to think about, not just that we need to sustain someone so they live as long as possible, but also to empower them and strengthen them so they live the best quality of life. For me, empowerment means making their own decisions and using the resources at their disposal.

Q: I am seeing a different Newt Gingrich than the one that came across in the media when you were Speaker of the House. What happened to the Scrooge Gingrich who was going to do horrible things to children?
A: All I can tell you is I have given speeches on this topic since 1980. To the degree you have not seen this side of me in the news media, I'm not sure its the failure of my speeches.

After I won the Speakership, Time magazine did a cover at Christmastime in 1994 that showed me as Scrooge holding Tiny Tim's broken crutch. I always thought that broken crutch [in the illustration] was given to you as an extra reminder, in case you did not get it. The title of the cover was "How Mean Will Gingrich's America Be to the Poor?" Yet, when I was Speaker, I introduced a bill that said no one could be forced into a nursing home.

Q: Now that you have left Congress, what about the future?
A: Science and technology are moving at an extraordinary rate and are making possible the unthinkable, particularly when it comes to advancing opportunities for disabled people. That's why we doubled the federal science budget [while I was Speaker]. You cannot talk about helping [paralyzed actor] Christopher Reeve without talking about the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health and the basic research that makes assistive technology possible.

The first time I was at Georgia Tech and saw Dragon Dictate (a voice-recognition system), I realized that Dragon Dictate is the baby step of a revolution. Looking ahead, I have zero doubt that sensors more powerful than those sensors used the cochlear implant [allowing deaf people to hear] will be planted directly into people's brains in the next decade. As a result, we will redefine assistive technology and disabilities.

These technology breakthroughs will raise new questions: How do you make capital investments [in empowering people with disabilities] instead of maintenance? I would favor some kind of loan grant program, similar to a Federal Housing Administration program that allows people to have the best access to technology. That would ensure the best quality of life and an opportunity to achieve their potential. They also could live decently without the stigma of disability being attached to them.

We must redesign all federal and state programs. Maintenance is a slow death. Empowerment is reattaching you to life. They are totally different models.

Q: What do you see as the role of Congress in making these changes?
A: Congress should start with the question: What will science make possible within the next 15 years? Then, what do we have to do to make it implementable? Then Congress must change obsolete federal laws that restrain and cripple people with disabilities.

The way the rules work now are very destructive. We have this sad case of a young woman in San Diego who died a few months ago. She was Holly Caudell. She had been in a car wreck and became a quadriplegic. She had graduated from law school and had been an assistant district attorney. But she was running out of her personal savings, and the way the disabilities law works, if she stayed active as an assistant district attorney, she was earning too much money to get government assistance. So she had to give up what she loved to get the assistance she needed.

My challenge to Congress is to form joint task forces among the various committees. Don't allow jurisdictional problems to slow you down. Start with the science, go to opportunity, and then rewrite the laws.

Q: What role can private industry play?
A: We are in a full-employment economy. And when you are in an Information Age where more and more it's your ability to think that is most effective, you'll find more and more willingness [by corporations] to employ people. The Information Age is creating a one-to-one society. People will shape jobs around characteristics.

I have a daughter who is expecting in October, and so I will have my first grandchild. She is considering changing her career track and looking for job sharing. She does not have a disability. She just wants to spend more time with her child. She is saying to her employer: "If you really want my talents, my experience, and my institutional memory, we need a new contract." She may only work three days a week. Meanwhile she is looking for someone who will work the rest of the time. This is the type of tailoring one-to-one careers that I see as the future.

So every person must think about what they want to do in life. If you don't like your job, get one you do like, because you will never do a job well that you dislike. And all the successful people I have ever spoken with attribute success to stubbornly following their own path. This has sometimes been harder, but in the long run, they have been happier. That's true for people with disabilities.

Q: You're talking about a formula for life's success for disabled people?
A: Yes. You start with the idea: What is it you like doing? Second: What are your enhanced and empowered skills? I think that's a very important component of this formula because we have the ability to match technologies to enhance people's abilities and to empower them. This is one of the ideas you have to get across to employers: Do not think about any person in isolation.

I find it amazing that the Welfare State will be cheerful about paying you a lot if you do nothing, but it cannot figure out how to develop a sliding scale to subsidize a little bit, say training or assistive technology, so individuals can do a lot. Businesses must say to government, you provide these pieces and a person can become fully employable. In some cases, it may mean being able to contract into Medicaid.