Assistive Technologies

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Assistive Technologies Job Accommodations
Enhancing the Employability of People with
Disabilities

• Jerry Weisman, MSME, ATP, RET
• Rehabilitation Technology Services/RESNA

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Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive
Technology Society of North America
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RESNA

• Interdisciplinary association of people with a
  common interest in technology and disability
• Purpose is to improve the health and
  participation of people with disabilities
• Supports those engaged in research, development,
  education, advocacy, and the provision of
  technology

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RESNA

• Programs include
• Annual conference
• Special interest groups
• Professional specialty groups
• Sponsored projects (Tech Act)
• Members include clinicians, suppliers,
  researchers, professionals, educators and
  end-users of assistive technology
• Certification program
• Standards development

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Assistive Technology Device

• .any item, piece of equipment, or product
  system, whether acquired commercially off the
  shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to
  increase, maintain, or improve functional
  capacities of individuals with disabilities.
• Tech Act, 1988

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Categories of AT Devices

• Seating and Positioning Aids
• Sensory Aids
• Wheeled Mobility Aids
• Vehicle Modifications
• Recreational Aids

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Categories of AT Devices

• Aids to Daily Living (ADL)
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
• Computer Access
• Environmental Control Units (ECU)
• Home or Worksite Modifications

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Rehabilitation Engineering

• First defined in Rehab Act of 1973
• RERCs
• Rehab Act Amendments of 1986
• Required state Voc Rehab to provide
  rehabilitation engineering services
• Defined Rehabilitation Engineering Services

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Questions

• What do you want to do?
• Initial Goals
• Why cant you?
• Problem(s)
• Let me take a look at that.
• Information, Evaluation, ATPs Analysis

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Questions

• You could overcome that by
• Solution or Intervention
• What we can realistically achieve is
• Revised goals and desired outcomes
• Well know weve achieved success by
  measuring.
• Outcome Measures

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Select from a Hierarchy

• Revise the task
• Develop the required skill or ability
• Select a product commercially available to the
  general public Try creative uses
• Select a product commercially available to
  disability community
• Modify or creatively combine commercially
  available products
• Custom design and fabricate a product

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Offer the solution that is simplest, but still
effective

• Whole picture Global and thorough assessment
• Wide range of solutions
• Long and short term implications and consequences
• Customize to meet unique needs Generic solutions
  rarely work well
• Seek the least disruptive solution

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Changes in the Workforce

• Movement away from heavy industry toward
  knowledge economy
• Technology has replaced many jobs
• Bank tellers
• Gas station attendants
• Telephone operators

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Changes in the Economy
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Careful Not to Stereotype

• White-collar worker
• Blue-collar worker
• Knowledge worker
• Not all people with spinal cord injuries should
  be computer programmers

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Changes in the Workforce

• Fastest growing occupations 2006-2016
• Network systems (53.4)
• Personal and home care aides (50.6)
• Personal financial advisors (41.0)
• Makeup artists (39.8)
• Physical therapist assistants (32.4)
• Pharmacy technicians (32.0)

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Research Needs

• Service Delivery
• Effectiveness and efficacy of providing assistive
  technology as job accommodations
• Models of service delivery
• Which professions are best equipped to provide
  accommodations

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Research Needs

• Standards
• ANSI C63.19 Compatibility Between Hearing Aids
  and Cellular Telephones
• Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings
• ADA Standards for Accessible Design
• Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS)
• 1998 ICC/ANSI A117.1
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
• ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Transportation
  Vehicles

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Research Needs

• Standards
• What areas of consumer and industrial
  technologies need to be accessible?
• Will standards be sufficient for accessibility?
• Participation by people with disabilities.

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Research Needs

• Universal Design Concepts
• Universal design is the design of products and
  environments to be usable by all people, to the
  greatest extent possible, without the need for
  adaptation or specialized design.
• Ron Mace

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Research Needs

• Universal Design Concepts
• Accommodating workers with disabilities should
  occur BEFORE the hire
• Recognition of a continuum of functional
  abilities
• How does Universal Design affect the workplace?
  Culturally, financially, productivity?

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