Phase 1 Outreach Plan- Buffalo, NY ITS4US Deployment Project

693JJ321C000005The Buffalo NY ITS4US Deployment Project seeks to improve mobility to, from, and within the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus by deploying new and advanced technologies with a focus on addressing existing mobility and accessibility challenges. Examples of the technologies to be deployed are electric and self-driving shuttles, a trip planning app that is customized for accessible travel, intersections that use tactile and mobile technologies to enable travelers with disabilities to navigate intersections, and Smart Infrastructure to support outdoor and indoor wayfinding. The deployment geography includes the 120-acre Medical Campus and surrounding neighborhoods with a focus on three nearby neighborhoods (Fruit Belt, Masten Park, and Allentown) with underserved populations (low income, vision loss, deaf or hard of hearing, physical disabilities (including wheeled mobility device users) and older adults). This document is the Outreach Plan, which identifies the outreach efforts this pilot will perform to promote and ensure stakeholder engagement

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Factors influencing outdoor walking activity in older adults

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to poorly designed environments. The built environment and its perceptions can potentially support or discourage this growing cohort to engage in outdoor activities. Municipalities can uniquely promote physical activity for this targeted population through their planning and design processes. This research explored neighborhood perceptions of older adults and how differing perceptions influence their decision to walk. The results confirm that neighborhood perceptions vary across participants. Older adults from rural, suburban, and urban communities report significantly different perceptions. Perceptions also vary by socio-demographic characteristics. While walking activity does not significantly differ across neighborhood types, some environmental perceptions are associated with specific walking behaviors. These relationships also vary by neighborhood type and socio-demographic variables. Interviews with older women confirm the presence of physical, personal, social, and temporal barriers and motivators to walking. The focus on environmental perceptions in this research offers policy makers, urban planners, engineers, public works officials, and public health providers with findings and recommendations that specifically address walking in older adults, a growing population uniquely affected by the environment

Factors Influencing Fixed-Route Transit Decision-Making: Exploring Differences by Disability and Community Type

Transit agencies utilize the following complementary initiatives to encourage greater fixed-route transit usage by people with disabilities: (1) implement more rigorous paratransit eligibility determination practices and (2) address the factors that deter people with disabilities from using fixed-route transit. This research focuses on the latter and uses previously conducted survey data to determine the most important factors individuals with disabilities consider when deciding to use various transportation options, and how these factors vary by disability and community type. Findings indicate that individuals with mobility impairments consistently rated the built environment factors as more important to their transit mode decision-making than scheduling-related factors. Findings also highlighted the importance of addressing complex trips when assisting riders with intellectual and cognitive disabilities. The current study also revealed that people with disabilities experience barriers differently based on where they live, suggesting the need for context sensitive interventions to support fixed-route ridership. Transit agencies should utilize this information to employ more targeted interventions to encourage greater fixed-route transit usage for individuals with disabilities

How Transit Agencies Implement Best Practice Strategies in Complementary ADA Paratransit Eligibility

To encourage greater fixed route transit use for people with disabilities, transit agencies are implementing more rigorous paratransit eligibility determination practices. Previous studies identified best practice strategies for eligibility determination, but did not fully document the implementation of these strategies, nor the factors contributing to successes or challenges. This study interviewed 16 transit agencies across the United States to investigate the use of ADA complementary paratransit eligibility best practices in order to (a) determine the extent to which transit agencies are adopting suggested best practices as part of determining paratransit eligibility, (b) describe how agencies apply these strategies in daily operations, and (c) explore factors that contribute to implementation successes and challenges. Findings indicate that many transit agencies have incorporated multiple best practice eligibility strategies as part of department-wide changes in paratransit operations and have overcome implementation challenges by recognizing departmental limitations and collaborating with other departments and organizations

User Experiences with Two New Wheelchair Securement Systems in Large Accessible Transit Vehicles

Wheelchair securement designs for fixed route, large accessible transit vehicles (LATVs) often create difficulties for passengers who use wheelchairs and operational inefficiencies for public transit agencies. Recent innovations in wheelchair securement technology for LATVs may reduce these challenges. This field study builds on a recent lab study that used a full-scale LATV simulation apparatus to address similar knowledge gaps. The current study used a mixed-methods approach to explore the usability of two newer wheelchair securement systems currently installed in LATVs in Buffalo, NY: a 3-point, forward-facing (3P-FF) securement system and a semi-automated, rear-facing (SA-RF) securement system. Three groups of wheelchair users (manual wheelchair [MWC], power wheelchair [PWC], and scooter [SC] users; n = 40) completed a pre-study interview, four trips on the LATVs and accompanying surveys, and a final interview. Using multiple usability rating scales, findings indicated clear differences in ratings of difficulty and acceptability between securement systems by wheelchair user group, with the SA-RF outperforming the 3P-FF on most usability measures for MWC and PWC users. SC users consistently rated both securement systems as more difficult to use and the SA-RF securement as less acceptable than MWC and PWC users