Some problems of designing for augmentative and alternative communication users: an enquiry through practical design activity

The submission is concerned with, and addresses, problems of designing for people with disabilities, with specific reference to people who are illiterate and cannot speak. People with such disabilities often depend on electronic AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices for interpersonal communication. A central theme of the thesis, however, is that such products, and products intended for people with disabilities more generally, have characteristics that inadequately attend to users' needs. Through a combination of practical product development and literature reviews, the thesis demonstrates how improvements to AAC devices 'can be made through user-participatory, usercentred and more sensitive and perceptive design. Literature reviews in the following subjects are reported: AAC; the operational knowledge base for design and disability; user participatory design; and wearable computing. At the core of the thesis is the presentation and discussion of an empirical case study, carried out by the researcher, to design and develop the Portland Communication Aid (PCA). The PCA was conceived as an AAC product that would attempt to redress the inadequacies of predecessor devices. The design activity for the PCA is traced in the thesis, from initial concepts and development models through to a working prototype. Key ideas and essential principles of the design are illustrated. Throughout the work on the PCA, many problems associated with designing for people with severe communication disabilities were encountered. These problems, as with their resolutions, comprised matters of both designing (as an activity) and design (as product specification). The thesis contains comprehensive exposure and analysis of these problems and resolutions. In particular, the value of shaping meaning, metaphor, and other product semantics into devices intended for use by people with disabilities is explored. The study provides two substantive conclusions. First, that both the activity and the outcomes of Industrial Design have a valuable role in the empowerment and rehabilitation of AAC users. And second, that key principles have been identified that will enable designers to better identify, articulate and respond to the needs of people with communication disabilities (and the needs of people with disabilities more generally

Designing with and for people with intellectual disabilities

People with intellectual disabilities often experience inequalities that affect the standard of their everyday lives. Assistive technologies can help alleviate some of these inequalities, yet abandonment rates remain high. This is in part due to a lack of involvement of all stakeholders in their design and evaluation, thus resulting in outputs that do not meet this cohort’s complex and heterogeneous needs. The aim of this half-day workshop is to focus on community building in a field that is relatively thin and disjointed, thereby enabling researchers to share experiences on how to design for and with people with intellectual disabilities, provide internal support, and establish new collaborations. Workshop outcomes will help to fill a gap in the available guidelines on how to include people with intellectual disabilities in research, through more accessible protocols as well as personalised and better fit-for-purpose technologies

Artistic Work of People with Intellectual Disabilities as a Laboratory of Social Practices : Research. Action. Solving Problems

People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) are often recognised as suffering from “social exclusion”. Attempts aimed at combating this exclusion include support in finding employment and preparing them for living independently. Unfortunately, for a large group of people with intellectual disabilities the aforementioned strategies of promoting social inclusion are unattainable, and thus alternative areas of social inclusion are sought after. The arts/artistic work may be one of them. Due to the fact that the study was conducted as participatory action research, the main areas of social exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities were exposed. This allowed for attempting to prevent this phenomenon. In this study, artistic work has become a laboratory of social practices toward people with intellectual disabilities and the solutions created in the realm of the arts may serve as an example for designing a normalising model of support for people with intellectual disabilities in other areas as well

The role of accessibility in a universal web

"Universal design" is the process of creating products that are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations; whereas "accessibility" primarily refers to design for people with disabilities. While the focus of accessibility is disabilities, research and development in accessibility brings benefits to everyone, particularly users with situational limitations, including device limitations and environmental limitations. Awareness and understanding of the benefits of web accessibility to users without disabilities is growing in some areas with the rapid increase of web-enabled devices such as mobile phones, tablets, televisions, and more; with the increasing focus on the growing number of older web users; and with wider web reach in areas with high incidence of low literacy, low bandwidth, older technology, etc. Although there is significant overlap between designing for accessibility and designing for situational limitations, addressing one set of needs does not necessarily provide sufficient solutions for other needs. Keeping accessibility focused on disabilities encourages research and development on meeting the specific needs of people with disabilities. This communications paper explains the importance of "accessibility" continuing to focus on people with disabilities, while further integrating accessibility with web design, development, and research in other areas, including those covered under universal design and design for all. It also describes how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) are working to address accessibility and related user needs throughout the technologies of the Web, and invites all interested parties to participate in research and development to further integrate accessibility for people with disabilities in ways that benefit all

Independence for Young Adults With Disabilities

In today?s society there are young adults with disabilities who need assistance with day to day activities. Most of these young adults either live at home with their parents who help them, in nursing homes, or even in an institution. Currently there aren?t many good options for young adults with disabilities to live and get their needs met. My thesis is designing a place for these young adults to live, thrive, and have a chance to live somewhat independently. I want this project to break stigmas that go along with disabilities including: Social Avoidance (people with disabilities may be left out of social activities or people may be hesitant to talk to someone with a disability), Stereotypes (people with disabilities may be presumed to be helpless, unable to care for themselves, or unable to make their own decisions), and Internalization (people with disabilities may themselves adopt negative beliefs about their own disability and feel ashamed or embarrassed about it). Lastly, this project will create a sense of community within the area as well as in the building itself. The challenges that are with this project are: how do you design around the needs of different disabilities, what are the necessary needs for people with disabilities, and how do I create a community for people with disabilities? Using research to figure out these challenges, this project will propose the best solution for young adults with disabilities to live somewhat independently and to thrive within their community

SOCIAL REHABILITATION OF PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES USING ART THERAPY METHODS

The article considers the problem of social rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities: analyzes the category of «disability» as a social phenomenon, summarizes the current approaches and social practices of foreign and Russian scientific schools in the context of the problem being studied, theoretically reveals the potential of art–therapeutic methods in organizing social rehabilitation of people with disabilities in accordance with the specifics of disabilities.The article describes an empirical study, in the course of which the features of social orientation of people with intellectual disabilities, their adaptive mechanisms and creative potential are revealed. The material of the article includes a description of the author's project “Art without Borders”, aimed at the socio–cultural rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities and the development of their creative potential using art therapy methods. The results of the study can be the basis for designing a system of social rehabilitation of people with intellectual disabilities.

Fostering Digital Participation for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Their Caregivers: Towards a Guideline for Designing Education Programs

In Germany, libraries or public training centers offer education programs for different target groups to foster digital participation. Yet, those programs often do not meet the requirements of people with intellectual disabilities, their formal caregivers or social institutions. A high degree of personal and organizational effort, lack of caregivers’ knowledge and expenditure of time materialize as barriers for caregivers in social institutions to support their clients to achieve digital literacy. However, the desires of people with intellectual disabilities to improve their digital skills have risen steadily in the last years. This article addresses the question of how education programs should be designed to meet the needs of people with intellectual disabilities, their formal caregivers, and social institutions. Therefore, requirements were derived from a secondary analysis of 24 semi-structured interviews with formal caregivers in social organizations, focus groups containing 50 people with intellectual disabilities, and an additional interview study with five experts form research and practice. As a result, a guideline with ten main points for designing education programs for people with disabilities, caregivers and social institutions is presented in this article

Designing Functional Clothing for People with Locomotor Disabilities

This article presents a study on functional clothing for people with disabilities. The clothing items which were the subject of research, i.e. polo shirt, T-shirt, shirt, trousers and jeans, were designed for people with physical disabilities, namely for daily activities for people who often sit in wheelchairs. The study used the research method of anthropometric theory, pattern design, textile materials, and an actual survey to analyse and evaluate the reality of movement ability and perception of clothes to determine the requirements for people with disabilities. The authors proposed suitable materials and provided solutions to adjust the basic pattern to become more suitable for people with locomotor disabilities. Finished sewing products were tested and evaluated experimentally by people with leg disabilities at the Center for Sponsoring - Vocational Training and Employment Introduction of Ho Chi Minh City and the Association for the support of people with Disabilities and Orphans of Ho Chi Minh City according to the Likert scale with 5 rating levels for each criterion. The results showed that the Cronbach’s Alpha index was over 0.7. The research addressed the comfort of disabled people’s clothing, indicating promising further development of other functional clothing

Expressive haptics for enhanced usability of mobile interfaces in situations of impairments

Designing for situational awareness could lead to better solutions for disabled people, likewise, exploring the needs of disabled people could lead to innovations that can address situational impairments. This in turn can create non-stigmatising assistive technology for disabled people from which eventually everyone could benefit. In this paper, we investigate the potential for advanced haptics to compliment the graphical user interface of mobile devices, thereby enhancing user experiences of all people in some situations (e.g. sunlight interfering with interaction) and visually impaired people. We explore technical solutions to this problem space and demonstrate our justification for a focus on the creation of kinaesthetic force feedback. We propose initial design concepts and studies, with a view to co-create delightful and expressive haptic interactions with potential users motivated by scenarios of situational and permanent impairments.Comment: Presented at the CHI'19 Workshop: Addressing the Challenges of Situationally-Induced Impairments and Disabilities in Mobile Interaction, 2019 (arXiv:1904.05382