References 657
Organisations that provide accessible daily living products and devices for blind and visually impaired people
ABLEDATA, product database, USA, http://www.abledata.com
Adaptive Technology Consulting, USA, http://www.adaptivetech.net/products American Printing House for the Blind, USA, http://www.aph.org
American Thermoform Corporation (ATC), USA, http://www.americanthermoform.com Braille supplies and equipment
ASSISTec Ltd, Israel, http://www.assis-tec.com
Braille Superstore, Canada, http://www.braillebookstore.com Braille and talking products Brytech, Canada, http://www.brytech.com/ Banknote readers and health monitoring products CareTec Gmbh, Austria, http://www.caretec.at
Cobolt Systems Ltd, UK, http://www.cobolt.co.uk
Diabetes Action Network of the National Federation of the Blind, USA, http://www.nfb.org/voice.htm Dynamic-Living.com, http://www.dynamic-living.com
En-Vision America Inc, USA, http://www.envisionamerica.com/ Technology for people with visual and cognitive impairments
Exceptional Teaching Aids Inc, USA, http://www.exceptionalteaching.com Eye-Dea Shop, USA, http://www.clevelandsightcenter.org/shop.csc/ Ferguson Enterprises, USA, http://www.fergusonenterprises.com Homecraft AbilityOne, UK, http://www.homecraftabilityone.com Independent Living Aids Inc, USA, http://www.independentliving.com
Institut de R´eadaption en D´eficience Physique de Qu´ebec, Canada, http://www.irdpq.qc.ca/ Kentucky Department for the Blind, USA, http://blind.ky.gov/
KGS Corporation, Japan, www.kgs-jpn.co.jp
La Crosse Technology, Australia, http://www.lacrossetechnology.com.au Lighthouse International, USA, http://www.lighthouse.org
MAB Community Services, USA, http://www.mablind.org
National Association for the Visually Handicapped, USA, http://www.navh.org National Federation for the Blind, USA, http://www.nfb.org
Oregon Scientific, UK, http://www.oregon.scientific.co.uk Quad Media, USA, http://www.quadmedia.com/
Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) (online shop), http://onlineshop.rnib.org.uk/ RVB Systems Group, USA, http://www.barcode-solutions.com/
San Francisco Network of Support for Community Living, USA, http://sanfrancisco.networkofcare.org Spektra v.d.n., Czech Republic, http://www.spektravox.cz
SysTech Displays, USA, http://www.systechdisplays.com
Ultmost Technology Corporation, Republic of China, http://www.asia.globalsources.com/ultmost.co
Assistive Technology for Education, Employment 18 and Recreation
Learning Objectives
The comprehensive assistive technology (CAT) model introduced in Chapter 1 has three fundamental activity categories and three contextual activity categories. The assistive technologies required to support blind and visually impaired people in carrying out activities in the fundamental activity categories were discussed in Chapters 5–16 and the assistive technologies used in the contextual activity category of daily living were presented in Chapter 17. This chapter will consider the assistive technologies required for the remaining two contextual activity categories of education and employment and recreational activities. The decomposition of these activities in the CAT model is used to provide the structure for this chapter. As already indicated in Chapter 1, many of the assistive technologies required to support blind and visually impaired people in education and employment are those required to access print media, computers and the Internet and telecommunications and have therefore been discussed in earlier chapters. However, the discussion in this chapter will show that there has not been a systematic effort to develop assistive technologies to overcome accessibility barriers in education, employment and recreational activities. Therefore there are numerous gaps in provision and potential users are often not aware of what is available. The learning objectives for the chapter include the following:
•Using the CAT model as a framework for categorizing the assistive technology used in education, employment and recreational activities.
•Obtaining an overview of the role of assistive technology in these areas.
•Understanding the engineering principles of some of the assistive technology solutions.
18.1 Introduction
The ability to take part in education and training, employment and recreational activities should be considered a fundamental right. Wider participation and social involvement by all sections of society is also of benefit to both individuals and society as a whole. However, the statistical data (see Sections 18.2 and 18.3)
660 18 Assistive Technology for Education, Employment and Recreation
Figure 18.1. Contextual activity categories in the CAT model
indicates lower participation by blind and visually impaired people in education and considerably lower rates of obtaining qualification and employment than the population as a whole, indicating that there are significant accessibility barriers in these areas.
The activities component of the comprehensive assistive technology model presented in Chapter 1 is used to provide the structure for a systematic presentation of the different assistive technology solutions considered in this chapter. Figure 18.1 shows the components of this model that form the basis of this structure.
The focus of this chapter is the assistive technologies required specifically for education, employment and recreational activities. However, unless all these activities take place from home, blind and visually impaired people will require accessible transport and buildings, as well as orientation and mobility training and technology. Assistive technology for accessing print media, computers and the Internet and, to a lesser extent, telecommunications, are also generally of great importance.
Education and employment involve a wide range of different activities associated with education and training and the workplace. The full categorisation of the relevant activities is taken from the third level of the CAT model as shown in Figure 18.2. This classification is used in Sections 18.2 and 18.3 to detail the assistive technology solutions available to overcome barriers in education and employment.
Author Note. It is in the nature of assistive technology for education, employment and recreational activities that the authors will describe a number of products. These have been chosen to illustrate typical features that can be found in available products. The selection made is not comprehensive, merely illustrative. Readers seeking comprehensive lists of products are urged to consult a database like that of the ABLEDATA website or visit the websites of the many assistive technology distributors. A list of useful websites can be found in the Resources section at the end of the chapter.