In 1986, the Founding members of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians (AADEP) dreamed of creating a medical organization that would teach the unique skills and techniques required to perform special medical evaluations and assessments on certain types of patients. Today, AADEP is the premier organization that produces educational courses and products on such issues as the proper techniques to perform impairment ratings based on the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, treatment of industrial related conditions, prevention of the disastrous disability cascade, surgical treatment of back pain, the science of bone and soft tissue healing, and the proper methods to perform return to work evaluations that place the injured person in a physical demand Category of work, based on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).