© Boardworks Ltd 2010 1 of 14 ICT and Disability

© Boardworks Ltd 20101 of 14

ICT and Disability


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Functional Skills check

Student task accompanies this slide Printable activity Video

This lesson will cover:

The technological advances that help people with visual impairments and hearing difficulties.

How technology can help people with cognitive impairments.

How technology can help those with mobility problems.


Technology for the disabled


Very few visually impaired people are totally blind. Most have some vision that they need to make the most of.

This may involve magnifying things to make them bigger and easier to see. Special software can magnify the area around the cursor on a computer screen by up to 32 times.

It might mean choosing colours for text and backgrounds that are best for the individual user.

Visual impairment


Braille keyboards and printers are available for people with visual impairments.

Using a video magnifier, printed material and objects can be placed under a camera and the magnified image displayed on a television screen or computer monitor. Magnifiers are mostly used for reading, but can also be used for writing or sewing, or for viewing objects at a distance such as a board in a classroom.

Input and output devices

Braille displays allow the user to read the output of the screenby touch.


Speaking technology


Help with hearing difficulties


People with cognitive disabilities can find it hard to remember and process information. Simple tasks may be easily forgotten.

PDAs, watches and telephones can be programmed to vibrate and show a message when a reminder is due.

Cognitive disability aids

Scientists have developed nursebots, personal robotic assistants for the elderly. They can be programmed to follow people around and provide intelligent reminders about things such as taking medication, having a meal and visiting the doctor.

What other tasks do you think robots could be programmed to perform?


Mouse-free computing


This Lomak keyboard won a design award, and is very different from a traditional one:

It can be mounted vertically for use with a light beam controlled by a head pointer, or horizontally for use with a hand-held pointer.

It is designed for people who find it difficult to control a traditional mouse and keyboard, such as cerebral palsy sufferers or people recovering from injury.

Case study: Lomak keyboard


Each letter is the same distance away from the centre, which means less physical movement is needed.

The user points to a letter and then to the ‘confirm’ button in the middle of the circle. This means that fewer wrong characters are entered.

Lomak keyboard


Wheelchair independence

The INDEPENDENCE® iBOT™ wheelchair can:

rise to various heights, so the user can talk to people who are standing, or reach things on high shelves

drive over rough ground and go up and down pavements.

climb up and down stairs

However, the iBOT cost approximately $26,100 and required a prescription in the United States. It stopped being sold in 2009. Its price made it inaccessible to many people.


Wheelchair independence

In 2010, a team of students at MIT designed the Leveraged Freedom Chair (LFC), a mobility device that can cope with the rough terrains of many developing countries and still be easily manoeuvrable indoors.

Large-scale production of the LFC is expected to start in 2011. Though the design is less high-tech than that of the iBOT, this wheelchair will be accessible to people in poorer areas.

The LFC is constructed from cheap, easily available bicycle parts, and so is relatively easy to repair in countries without access to technical equipment.

Which of these two wheelchairs do you think is ultimately more useful, and why?


Summary

Documents

© Boardworks Ltd 2010 1 of 14 ICT and Disability