queen's university, armagh assistive technology certificate in assistive technology queen’s...

Queen's University, Armagh Assistive Technology

Certificate in Assistive Technology

Queen’s University, Armagh


Course Modules

Module 1The fundamentals of Assistive Technology (AT): an introduction to theory, policy and how AT can be matched to persons with disabilities at school, college, home or in the community.


Course Modules

Module 2

Ways of sourcing Assistive Technology and building multi-disciplinary team assessments on persons with disabilities and how to source funding


Course Modules

Module 3Research methods and Project Design:

• How to conduct a mini research project,• Carry out a short literature review,• Record personal experiences through a

learning journal and • Conduct a detailed case study on matching

needs to appropriate AT and resources for an individual with a disability.


Course Objectives

To identify the wide range of ICT and AT for the home, school and the community,

To enable the participant to experience a range of AT and software applications,

To provide disabled people, professionals and volunteers with a set of skills that will better equip them when assessing the needs of individuals with sensory, physical or cognitive disabilities and impairments,


Course Objectives (Continued)

• To learn about resources that are available to support AT devices and services,

To equip participants with knowledge relevant to the current person-centred approach in the delivery of services,


Course Objectives (Continued)

To foster cross university and inter-agency partnerships,

To contribute to the university’s equality policy by providing a model of “good practice” through a fully integrated course,

To teach a set of key research skills in order to carry out an extensive piece of related research.


Paul Lynch – A Short Resume Currently carrying out research in Visual

Impairments and ICT at Queen’s University Belfast,

Special Needs Teacher in Dublin Outreach Class for Autistic Spectrum Disorders,

Lecture part-time on ICT and Enabling Technology Course at Trinity College, Dublin

Consultant in Africa for the Department for International Development: Studying ICT and SEN


Part Two

An Introduction to Assistive Technology


Lecture One

Background to Disability Theory Disability Movements Medical Model vs. Social Model of Disability World Health Organisation Terminology What is Assistive Technology (AT)? Characteristics of AT Members of an AT Dream Team


Background

Disability is both a common personal experience and a global phenomenon, with widespread economic, cultural and political implications for society as a whole.

Estimates suggest that there are around 50 million disabled people in the EU and 500 million worldwide. Estimated at 18% of the whole population by 2020.


Disability Theory

Focus on the social exclusion and oppression of disabled people. The barriers are embedded in policies and practices based on the individualistic, medicalised approach to disability. The removal of such obstacles by changing the way society is organised (Barnes, 1998)

“Rights not Charity”


Politicisation of DisabilityIn the 1970’s, disabled individuals and groups began to self-organise to resist exclusion form employment and enforced poverty. Also publication of sociological texts, e.g.:

The Sociology of Physical Disability and Rehabilitation – Gary Albrecht (editor) 1976,

The Meaning of Disability – Mildred Blaxter (1976).None of the studies attempted to question its ideological underpinnings: what has been called the “individual”, “medical” or “personal tragedy” model of disability.


Disability Movements

American Independent Living Movement Swedish Self Advocacy Movement Union of the Physically Impaired Against

Segregation, UK (UPIAS) Liberation Network of People with

Disabilities, UK Who else?


Challenging the Authority of the Medical Definition of Disability

Medical model – disability is a physical or mental impairment or a biological deficit” or “flaw” that limits what disabled people can do. This means that the “flaw” segregates those labelled form social participation.

ABNORMALITY OR MALADAPTION

Confinement, denial of human rights and oppressive practices of care (Barnes, 1990)


Social Model of DisabilityA key turning point in the development of the social model of disability in Britain was the definition developed at a meeting of the Union of the Physically Impaired Segregation (UPIAS) in 1976:

Disability is something imposed on top of our impairment by the way we are unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full participation in society.

Impairment is a lacking part or all of a limb, organ or mechanism of the body; and disability as the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organisation which takes no or little account of people who have physical impairments……(1976: 14)


Social Model of DisabilityA focus on economic, environmental and cultural barriers encountered by people viewed by others as having some form of impairment. These include inaccessible:

Education

Working Environments

Information and Communication Systems

Inadequate Disability benefits,

Inaccessible transport, etc………


Inclusion in works of Bruegel (1520 – 69)

The Battle between Carnival and Lent depicts many of the human elements of the medieval social order. These two paintings gives us a view of the European feudal landscape with gambolling figures, lame beggars set unremarkably within the larger, symbolic mise-en-scene Gleeson 1999: 62)

The Cripples – Pieter Bruegel


International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, or ICIDH (WHO 1980)

A new paradigm (an example or conceptual framework) of disability, offering what it calls "a framework for understanding the dimensions of disablement and functioning at three different levels: body, person and society."


ICIDH Terminology

Impairment – Any temporary or permanent loss or abnormality of a body structure or function, whether physiological or psychological.

Disability – A restriction or inability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being, mostly resulting from impairment.

Handicap - This is a result of an impairment or disability that limits or prevents the fulfilment of one or several roles regarded as normal, depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors.

www.who.int/icidh


Example

A child who has lost an eye following an accident will be impaired but may not be disabled, and will be able to participate fully in school and family activities. If a career as an airline pilot, police officer or professional tennis player had been anticipated, then this may be seen as a personal disadvantage or handicap.


Modifications to Classification

Impairment Disability Handicap

Impairment Activity Participation

WHO 2001


What is Assistive Technology? “Any product, instrument,

equipment or technical system used by a disabled or elderly person, made specially or existing on the market, aimed to prevent, compensate, relieve or neutralise the deficiency, the inability or the handicap.”International ISO-9999 Standard


Finding the Right Fit

Assistive technology or Enabling Technology is sometimes referred to as "work-around" technology. The "fit" of technology solutions with the individual's circumstances must be carefully judged - low technology solutions are often more effective and easily integrated into a person's lifestyle.


Design for All

Design for All (DfA) – design practices will have to change as a result of new challenges to meet the ever growing needs of an aging population. There is also a need for sustainable development that is more inclusive for diverse user groups.

DfA methods and tools should be part of the professional toolkit of all designers. This toolkit should include understanding of the cross-cultural nature to ensure that environments, products or services designed for people support inclusion of all citizens to society See EU e-Accessibility

[http://www.e-accessibility.org].


AT is a Very Broad Area

Daily Living aids, Mobility Aids, Vocational Technology, Environmental

Technology (ECU) Recreational

Technology,

Communication Technology (AAC)

Seating and positioning aids,

Transportation Technology (POW)


Characteristics of AT

Low to high tech, Hard or soft tech, Minimal to maximal, Augment or replace, General or specific, Commercial or custom


Low Tech to High Tech

“low-tech" - non-electronic devices, such as widened pencil grips, velcro fasteners, or book holders.

"medium-tech" devices are more complicated but are used by those with some degree of independent functioning. e.g. adaptive computer peripherals - tracker balls, joy sticks, keyboards, etc.

"high-tech" devices are more sophisticated communication and environmental control systems. Considerable specialist support and training is necessary.


Members of a Dream AT team

AT User (Client) Family/ caregiver The Funder The AT Advisor The Supplier The Engineer Others depending on context


Personal Characteristics when considering the introduction of AT

Physical, Cognitive, Cultural, Experience, Age, Gender


Reading

Introduction to “A Review of Good Practice in ICT and Special Educational Needs for Africa”.

Ability Net Service Providers – http://www.abilitynet.co.uk

Information, products and services for disabled people - http://www.youreable.com/

Research Binder

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