ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Disability influences activities of daily living, leading to unsafe conditions, poor quality of life, and dependence on others and assistive technologies. Despite limited access and unmet needs, assistive technology enables users to participate in education and be independent members of their community. Students with disabilities in higher education face many challenges in their day-to-day activities and evidence is limited in the study area. Therefore, this study aimed to explore assistive technology experience and daily living challenges among students with disabilities in higher education. METHOD: A descriptive qualitative study design was employed at the University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, between December 20, 2022, and January 20, 2023. A purposive sampling method was employed to recruit 14 students with disabilities. An in-depth interview was employed using semi-structured questionnaires. Open Code version 4 software for coding and reflexive thematic analysis approach was employed for the analysis. RESULT: A total of 14 students with disabilities were included in an in-depth interview. Four main themes emerged, which included activities of daily living, attitudes toward people with disabilities, barriers to accessibility, and access to assistive technology. CONCLUSION: Barriers to activities of daily living among students with disabilities were poor accessibility of infrastructural facilities, lack of teaching/learning materials in an accessible format, and negative attitudes. The present study's finding is needed to support students in higher education for their academic achievement and to design appropriate rehabilitation strategies and policies on the accessibility of physical infrastructures, inclusive education, and the provision of assistive technology.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Robotic devices have been used to quantify function, identify impairment, and rehabilitate motor function extensively in adults, but less-so in younger populations. The ability to perform motor actions improves as children grow. It is important to quantify this rate of change of the neurotypical population before attempting to identify impairment and target rehabilitation techniques. OBJECTIVES: For a population of typically developing children, this systematic review identifies and analyzes tools and techniques used with robotic devices to quantify upper-limb motor function. Since most of the papers also used robotic devices to compare function of neurotypical to pathological populations, a secondary objective was introduced to relate clinical outcome measures to identified robotic tools and techniques. METHODS: Five databases were searched between February 2019 and August 2020, and 226 articles were found, 19 of which are included in the review. RESULTS: Robotic devices, tasks, outcome measures, and clinical assessments were not consistent among studies from different settings but were consistent within laboratory groups. Fifteen of the 19 articles evaluated both typically developing and pathological populations. CONCLUSION: To optimize universally comparable outcomes in future work, it is recommended that a standard set of tasks and measures is used to assess upper-limb motor function. Standardized tasks and measures will facilitate effective rehabilitation.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Individuals with visual impairment have difficulty detecting obstacles that are above waist height. A prototype device was developed to allow individuals to hear ultrasound reflections off environmental obstacles. The purpose of this research was to evaluate novices' ability to evaluate distance and pass through apertures using this device. METHOD: The first experiment evaluated the ability to judge the distance from a wall using the ultrasound system as compared to using auditory echolocation. The second examined time for passage, centreline accuracy and angle of rotation through different sized apertures. RESULTS: Distance judgement was found to be better with audified ultrasound than with auditory echolocation. When passing through apertures, audified ultrasound enabled centreline precision similar to that of vision, but individuals did not rotate their shoulders while passing through suggesting that more practice is necessary to combine perceptive information with proprioceptive action. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to judge distance and navigate through an environment with obstacles using a device which audifies ultrasound was shown to be better than using auditory echolocation, but not as effective as vision. This device will allow individuals with visual impairments to better detect and avoid environmental obstacles.
