Intellectual Disability, Digital Technologies, And Independent Transportation – A Scoping Review

Transportation is an essential aspect of everyday life. For people with intellectual disabilities transportation is one the largest barriers to community participation and a cause of inequality. However, digital technologies can reduce barriers for transportation use for people with intellectual disabilities and increase community mobility. The aim of this scoping review was to identify and map existing research on digital technology support for independent transport for people with intellectual disabilities and to identify knowledge gaps relevant for further research. The authors conducted a scoping review of articles presenting digital technologies designed to assist in outdoor navigation for people with intellectual disabilities. The search yielded 3195 items, of which 45 were reviewed and 13 included in this study. The results show that while a variation of design elements was utilized, digital technologies can effectively support individuals with intellectual disability in transport. Further research should focus on multiple contexts and types of transportation, different support needs during independent travel, real-world settings, participatory approaches, and the role of user training to enhance the adoption of digital technologies

Pre-Travel Training And Real-Time Guidance System For People With Disabilities In Indoor Environments

Public transportation provides people with access to education, employment, health and community activities. However, navigating inside public hubs for people with disabilities such as cognitive or mobility impairments can be very challenging and dangerous. With the rapid development of digital technology such as Smartphones and sensors, there are unprecedented opportunities to assist people with disabilities to conquer these challenges. In this research, we aim to create a two-step indoor navigation solution for users with different mobility and orientation abilities. In the first step, we developed a virtual reality-based pre-travel training module that enables users to familiarize themselves with the virtual environment which represents the physical environment. After users feel confident and familiar enough with the environment, they proceed to the second step in which they visit the physical environment and use our real-time navigation assistance module. The pre-travel training module is developed using a Unity-based 3D game and includes a virtual indoor environment that represents the physical environment. The game provides a navigation function that highlights the path between the user location and the chosen destination. Considering the unique needs of cognitive impaired users, we designed action training modules in the game environment which train the user to use the ticket machine, fare gate and call boxes. Such training modules help cognitive impaired users familiarize themselves with the environment as well as gain confidence to experience the physical environment. When the users are ready to visit the physical environment, they use our real-time navigation assistance module which includes the same 3D virtual environment developed for the pre-travel training module. This approach is particularly important for people with cognitive impairment since they cannot organize navigation cues effectively. Using the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) infrastructure in the environment, our localization algorithm can track the user location in real-time. Subsequently, the user’s location will be integrated into the game environment so that the navigation path between the user’s current location and the selected destination can be generated and visualized by the user on the fly

Inclusive Landmark based Pedestrian Wayfinding via Multi-modal Directions

Navigational skills are fundamental to travelling from place to place, personal independence and community integration [2]. Current research in pedestrian wayfinding suggests that people vary significantly in their choice of navigation modalities [6, 7, 25]. In addition, pedestrians with learning disabilities find it difficult to recall routes travelled daily and stay oriented while enroute to unknown locations. This paper proposes a wayfinding interface that has 2 components: 1) temporary poly-coated cardboard signage along with imprinted information indicating a specific destination, minutes by foot, directional arrow and a QR code; 2) online interactive website to provide additional contextualized navigation instructions for pedestrians through various modalities. The University of Toronto Scarborough campus (UTSC) is being used as the physical environment to implement and test the proposed wayfinding interface. The QR code tags link the cardboard signage to the online interface and generate streaming of route instructions in the modes of panoramic video, photographs, aerial map, audio or text. The goal of the proposed wayfinding system is to aid UTSC pedestrians - especially those with learning disabilities - to orient themselves and navigate to their destination through multi-modal landmark-based, turn-by-turn directions

Augmented Reality Action Assistance and Learning for Cognitively Impaired People. A Systematic Literature Review

Blattgerste J, Renner P, Pfeiffer T. Augmented Reality Action Assistance and Learning for Cognitively Impaired People. A Systematic Literature Review. In: The 12th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (PETRA ’19). New York, NY, USA: ACM; 2019.Augmented reality (AR) is a promising tool for many situations in which assistance is needed, as it allows for instructions and feedback to be contextualized. While research and development in this area have been primarily driven by industry, AR could also have a huge impact on those who need assistance the most: cognitively impaired people of all ages. In recent years some primary research on applying AR for action assistance and learning in the context of this target group has been conducted. However, the research field is sparsely covered and contributions are hard to categorize. An overview of the current state of research is missing. We contribute to filling this gap by providing a systematic literature review covering 52 publications. We describe the often rather technical publications on an abstract level and quantitatively assess their usage purpose, the targeted age group and the type of AR device used. Additionally, we provide insights on the current challenges and chances of AR learning and action assistance for people with cognitive impairments. We discuss trends in the research field, including potential future work for researchers to focus on

When technology cares for people with dementia:A critical review using neuropsychological rehabilitation as a conceptual framework

Clinicians and researchers have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology in assisting persons with dementia (PwD). However, several issues have emerged in relation to how studies have conceptualized who the main technology user is (PwD/carer), how technology is used (as compensatory, environment modification, monitoring or retraining tool), why it is used (i.e., what impairments and/or disabilities are supported) and what variables have been considered as relevant to support engagement with technology. In this review we adopted a Neuropsychological Rehabilitation perspective to analyse 253 studies reporting on technological solutions for PwD. We analysed purposes/uses, supported impairments and disabilities and how engagement was considered. Findings showed that the most frequent purposes of technology use were compensation and monitoring, supporting orientation, sequencing complex actions and memory impairments in a wide range of activities. The few studies that addressed the issue of engagement with technology considered how the ease of use, social appropriateness, level of personalization, dynamic adaptation and carers' mediation allowed technology to adapt to PWD's and carers' preferences and performance. Conceptual and methodological tools emerged as outcomes of the analytical process, representing an important contribution to understanding the role of technologies to increase PwD's wellbeing and orient future research.University of Huddersfield, under grants URF301-01 and URF506-01

Cognitive function and assistive technology for cognition: A review

The relationship between assistive technology for cognition (ATC) and cognitive function was examined using a systematic review. A literature search identified 89 publications reporting 91 studies of an ATC intervention in a clinical population. The WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was used to categorize the cognitive domains being assisted and the tasks being performed. Results show that ATC have been used to effectively support cognitive functions relating to attention, calculation, emotion, experience of self, higher level cognitive functions (planning and time management) and memory. The review makes three contributions: (1) It reviews existing ATC in terms of cognitive function, thus providing a framework for ATC prescription on the basis of a profile of cognitive deficits, (2) it introduces a new classification of ATC based on cognitive function, and (3) it identifies areas for future ATC research and development. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1–19

Automatic detection of disorientation among people with dementia

Ageing is characterized by decline in cognition including visuospatial function, necessary for independently executing instrumental activities of daily living. The onset of Alzheimer’s disease dementia exacerbates this decline, leading to major challenges for patients and increased burden for caregivers. An important function affected by this decline is spatial orientation. This work provides insight into substrates of real-world wayfinding challenges among older adults, with emphasis on viable features aiding the detection of spatial disorientation and design of possible interventions

Rethinking the Grocery Store: Inclusive Wayfinding System for Visually Impaired Shoppers in Grocery Stores

Many people with disabilities face considerable barriers while shopping in grocery stores. One such barrier is that they cannot find their way around easily, especially when they visit the grocery store for the first time and have not yet built a cognitive map in their memory. They may also experience delays in finding the right product or waiting for assistance from store employees, thus leading them to rely on family, friends, relatives, or volunteers to help them with their shopping. Problems start when these people are not available, in which case the individual is forced to cancel their visit to the grocery store and reschedule the trip. Grocery stores include many different zones and services, the aisles area being one of the main barriers to access for people with different disabilities. This area features many different sections such as canned goods, dry packaged goods, spices, drinks and snacks, baking supplies, baby items, cereals, cleaning products, pet supplies, and health and beauty items. For visually impaired individuals, however, it can be hard to reach these various sections and find the relevant products. The objective of this research is to design an inclusive and innovative wayfinding system in grocery stores for visually impaired shoppers in order to help them find the center zone, orient between different aisles, decide where to go, move easily between different sections, and select products with ease. The research approach will be based on the literature review and the application of the Delphi method

Review of substitutive assistive tools and technologies for people with visual impairments: recent advancements and prospects

YesThe development of many tools and technologies for people with visual impairment has become a major priority in the field of assistive technology research. However, many of these technology advancements have limitations in terms of the human aspects of the user experience (e.g., usability, learnability, and time to user adaptation) as well as difficulties in translating research prototypes into production. Also, there was no clear distinction between the assistive aids of adults and children, as well as between “partial impairment” and “total blindness”. As a result of these limitations, the produced aids have not gained much popularity and the intended users are still hesitant to utilise them. This paper presents a comprehensive review of substitutive interventions that aid in adapting to vision loss, centred on laboratory research studies to assess user-system interaction and system validation. Depending on the primary cueing feedback signal offered to the user, these technology aids are categorized as visual, haptics, or auditory-based aids. The context of use, cueing feedback signals, and participation of visually impaired people in the evaluation are all considered while discussing these aids. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations is suggested to assist the scientific community in addressing persisting challenges and restrictions faced by both the totally blind and partially sighted people