For Our Information, November 1949, Vol. II, no. 7-8

An official publication of the ILR School, Cornell University, “for the information of all faculty, staff and students.

The Power of Person-Centered Planning

The purpose of this article is to awaken the reader to the possibilities which exist when working on Person-Centered Planning and the individual with intellectual disabilities, specifically, Down syndrome. Although Person-Centered Planning has been in existence for more than two decades, it is viewed in a new way through the experiences documented in this article by individuals, and the use of a new format which includes photography, the computer, and a guide for what questions to ask and how to ask them. The central question of what caregivers can do once the Person-Centered Plan is enacted is posed as well. The Person-Centered Plan is seen as not disability-specific, but a capacity building process in which the personnel involved are key to linking the individual to the community in order for dreams and personal goals to be realized

Open Doors, October 1982

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Detroit, M

Catholic Commission for the Handicapped, October-November-December 1984

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in St. Louis, M

Building Positive Social Networks Through Environmental Interventions in Integrated Recreation Programs

The purpose of this article is to present sociometry, circle of friends, and cooperative learning technologies that therapeutic recreation specialists can use as strategies for including persons with disabilities into integrated community recreation programs. These strategies are examples of external integrative strategies, strategies designed to affect the immediate surroundings of the targeted individual, thus preparing the environment for socialization, learning, and integration. Sociometry is presented as a strategy for restructuring groups to promote the inclusion of isolated individuals. Circle of friends techniques prepare existing groups for the introduction of new members. Cooperative learning methods are used to promote positive interactions between group members. Combined with carefully planned strategies for leisure and social skills instruction and networking with others, sociometry, circle of friends, and cooperative learning techniques can become a part of a comprehensive package to promote the successful integration of recreation programs by including the most distant members of our communities

User-centered design of a dynamic-autonomy remote interaction concept for manipulation-capable robots to assist elderly people in the home

In this article, we describe the development of a human-robot interaction concept for service robots to assist elderly people in the home with physical tasks. Our approach is based on the insight that robots are not yet able to handle all tasks autonomously with sufficient reliability in the complex and heterogeneous environments of private homes. We therefore employ remote human operators to assist on tasks a robot cannot handle completely autonomously. Our development methodology was user-centric and iterative, with six user studies carried out at various stages involving a total of 241 participants. The concept is under implementation on the Care-O-bot 3 robotic platform. The main contributions of this article are (1) the results of a survey in form of a ranking of the demands of elderly people and informal caregivers for a range of 25 robot services, (2) the results of an ethnography investigating the suitability of emergency teleassistance and telemedical centers for incorporating robotic teleassistance, and (3) a user-validated human-robot interaction concept with three user roles and corresponding three user interfaces designed as a solution to the problem of engineering reliable service robots for home environments