Individuality over function: the role of technology in disability identity

When designing or investigating technology use among people with disabilities, researchers often overstate the importance of functional aspects at the expenses of identity. We present three case studies that showcase how people with disabilities use, or aspire to use, technology to advertise, reframe or hide their identities

Supporting the Voice of People with Disabilities in Kenya, Uganda and Jordan

Research methods need to be adapted to the cultural context and traditions with which participants are familiar. Limited work has been attempted to explore ways to engage people with disabilities in low resource settings. In this paper we present methods used in two research projects that engage and actively support the voice of people with disabilities living in low resource settings. We discuss which methods have worked well and which not, with recommendations based on our experience and the research results

The effect of technique and transfer board use on the performance of wheelchair transfers

Transferring to and from the wheelchair seat is a necessary skill for many wheelchair users who wish to be independent in their everyday life. The performance of wheelchair transfers has been associated with the risk of falling and developing upper limb injuries. Both present a risk to the independence of the individual. Previous studies on wheelchair transfers have focused mainly on the analysis of sitting transfers performed by individuals with Spinal Cord Injury, which only represent a small portion of the wider wheelchair users’ population. The purpose of this letter is to investigate the effect of different transferring techniques (sitting, standing) and transfer board use on the ground reaction forces under the hands during transfer performance and transfer quality measured using the Transfer Assessment Instrument (TAI). Sitting transfers displayed generally higher peak and mean reaction forces underneath both leading and trailing hands compared to the other techniques, but the difference was only significant between sitting and standing transfers. Standing transfers had significantly lower TAI scores compared to sitting transfer, potentially indicating a decreased level of safety associated with their performance. Transfer boards were only partially effective in reducing the weight born by the upper limbs and they caused only a minor reduction in the overall TAI score in comparison to sitting transfers

Training in priority assistive products: report from the first pilot

The first pilot of the training in priority assistive products package (TAP) was carried out in Bangalore, India in partnership with Mobility India and the Bangalore Baptist Hospital’s Community Health Division in collaboration with Motivation Australia, LV Prasad Eye Institute, and the University College London between the 27th February and the 2nd March 2018. The scope of the pilot was to identify potential barriers and facilitators to the future implementation of TAP; gather feedback from representative TAP users to inform ongoing development of TAP; as well as to pilot the evaluation methodology for future TAP pilots. This report aims to presents an overview of TAP and of the pilot, illustrate the key pilot findings, and highlights key recommendations going forward

Two sides of the same coin: accessibility practices and neurodivergent users' experience of extended reality

Purpose: This paper explores the accessibility barriers faced by neurodivergent individuals regarding the use of Extended Reality (XR) technologies and the difficulties faced by developers in creating neurodivergent inclusive XR experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors carried out a survey with neurodivergent participants, and a series of semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent adults and XR developers. Findings: Neurodivergent individuals experience sensory overload when using XR technologies; these negative experiences are exacerbated by excessive multisensory stimulation. Allowing for the customization of sensory settings was seen as the only way to potentially limit negative experiences. The authors found that XR developers lacked awareness of accessibility requirements and struggled to integrate them in current software development practices. Social implications: Accessibility understanding regarding neurodivergence is increasingly available and the time has come to bring computing and information services within the reach of all neurodivergent individuals. The power in the design of XR, which is crucial, is decentralized from neurotypical XR developing practices to avoid artificial barriers that decrease the quality of life. Originality/value: There is a lack of studies exploring how neurodivergent individuals experience XR considering their different sensory processing patterns. There is also no research exploring XR developers' awareness of accessibility needs of neurodivergent individuals. This paper presents an account of the challenges faced by neurodivergent XR users, the difficulties faced by XR developers to integrate neurodivergent accessibility requirements, and proposes specific strategies to overcome challenges

Effect of cooling rate on phase transformation in 6-8 wt % YSZ APS TBCs

In properly produced as-sprayed thermal barrier coatings of yttria partially stabilized zirconia (7YSZ) the only phase that can be found is the metastable tetragonal prime structure t’. Even though t’ is sometimes called “not transformable”, because it behaves as practically stable up to rather high temperature, long term exposure much above 1200 °C produces its equilibrium transformation in tetragonal and cubic phases. During cooling down to room temperature the tetragonal phase will transform in monoclinic one. Although it is considered a martensitic transformation, fast cooling after prolonged high temperature exposure (over 1300°C) can avoid or limit the evolution from tetragonal to monoclinic structure. The effect of the cooling rate on this transformation has been investigated in free standing TBCs both with porous microstructure and dense vertically cracked one, exposed at 1400°C for 100 hours. The samples have been analysed by XRD and subsequent Rietveld refinement analysis to quantify the phase content: the results highlight that different cooling rates give different monoclinic contents, confirming the cooling rate effect on the transformation. If the phase equilibrium was not achieved due to fast cooling, it could be restored at low temperature for short duration independent of cooling rate. It was demonstrated that after exposure at 1400°C followed by fast cooling, the equilibrium phase composition could be achieved by a low temperature heat treatment of 12h at 200°C. For validation, the quantitative phase analysis has been performed before and after that low temperature heat treatment. Moreover the unit cell volume per each phase has been measured, for both samples at equilibrium and samples after fast cooling. Therefore the strain induced by the volume increase due to monoclinic phase formation has been calculated and compared with TBC maximum allowable strain