Transcending Operating Barriers Online for Disabled Bodies

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natilene I. Bowker ◽  
Keith Tuffin

AbstractPeople with disabilities often face physical, social, and psychological barriers in daily life because of inaccessible structures and disability prejudice. The online medium's physically, nontaxing capacity for participation as well as a lack of visually mediated cues can potentially eliminate such barriers. This study discursively explored the psychological meaning of what it meant to be online for people with disabilities, focusing on possibilities for operating beyond their standard practices in daily life. Participants were recruited from various disability organisations in New Zealand and were invited to take part in an online interview. The notion of transcending barriers to participation formed a broad pattern in participants' data. This talk comprised 3 linguistic resources: life-altering, overcoming physical barriers, and disconnecting disability. Each resource offered participants a highly positive and significant transformation in subjectivity, enabling people with disabilities to be positioned as equal members of society.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Riah King-Wall

<p>The New Museology posits museums and galleries as institutions entwined with issues of social justice and political responsibility. The relationship between museums and their communities is the founding aspect of this theoretical and practical framework. ‘Path to Accessibility’ explores the ways museums and galleries around Aotearoa New Zealand are engaging with communities of people with disabilities, consulting both with representatives from the disability sector and cultural organisations from around the country. This dissertation addresses a current gap in the literature available on how New Zealand museums are adapting to the needs of these audiences; a shift that is necessary given one in four New Zealanders identifies as having lived experience of disability. It also forges a valuable contribution to the field of museum studies by drawing on theory such as audience development and visitor research, and utilising emancipatory research frameworks from disability studies, as well as conducting original research on an under-examined topic.  The research comprised a multi-method approach to ensure credibility. Focus group and interview stages collected the experiences and viewpoints of existing museum visitors with disabilities. This provided a foundation on which to create a nationwide survey of 41 museums and galleries. The survey explored multiple aspects of disability access, including physical ingress, inclusive exhibition design, tailored public programming, digital accessibility, and levels of disability representation in staff and management positions.  The findings of this research project reveal that museums and galleries in Aotearoa New Zealand are for the most part considering disability access in some way. However, actioning related initiatives is often limited to achieving minimum legislative requirements rather than approaching it comprehensively as part of wider audience development strategies. The analysis of data gathered puts forward a number of suggestions around improving practice in New Zealand museums, central to which is establishing relationships with communities of people with disabilities and their advocacy groups to ensure long-term sustainability. These recommendations have global applicability for museum practice as comparative overseas studies demonstrate strong similarities to the New Zealand context.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Thomas Meyer ◽  
Selina Weber ◽  
Lukas Jäger ◽  
Roland Sigrist ◽  
Roger Gassert ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Advanced assistive technologies (AAT) aim to exploit the vast potential of technological developments made in the past decades to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. Combining complex robotic technologies with the unique needs of people with disabilities requires a strong focus on user-centered design to ensure that the AAT appropriately addresses the daily life struggles of target users. The CYBATHLON aims to promote this mindset by empowering the AAT target users (“pilots”) to compete on race tracks that represent daily life obstacles. The objective of this work was to investigate the influence of the CYABTHALON on AAT technology development, acceptance, and user involvement (i.e., application of user-centered design).Methods: With an online survey targetting the pilots and technical leads of teams preparing for the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, we investigated to what extent the pilots were involved in device development and how this influences the perceived daily life usability of the showcased AAT. Furthermore, the effects of user-centered design variables on the individual race performances were analyzed.Results: A total of 81 responses from 35 pilots and 46 technical leads were collected in the two weeks prior to the event. Of all teams partaking in the included disciplines of the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, 81.8% (36 of 44) were included in the study. User-centered design appeared to be a prevalent practice among the teams, as 85.7% of all pilots reported a certain level of involvement. However, only 25.5% of the pilots reported daily life usage, despite QUEST usability scores of both respondent groups showing moderate to high satisfaction with the respected AAT across all investigated disciplines. An explorative linear mixed model indicated that daily life usage (p < 0.05) and prolonged user involvement (e.g. more than 2 years, p < 0.001) have a significant positive effect on the race performance at the competition.Conclusions: We conclude that the CYBATHLON positively fullfills its conceptual goals of promoting active participation and inclusion of people with disabilities in the design and evaluation of AAT, thereby stimulating the development of promising novel technological solutions. Also, our data could underline the value of the competition as a benchmark, highlighting remaining usability limitations or technology adoption hurdles.


Author(s):  
Kenzie Latham-Mintus ◽  
Sabrina Cordon

Scholars and advocates have long proposed that an individual’s impairment is not the source of disability, but instead it is social and physical barriers put in place by society that are disabling. The purpose of this chapter is to (1) provide an overview of how contextual factors are conceptualized and measured in the current literature; (2) describe the key findings and discuss what the current research tells us about the salience of the environment for individual disability experiences; and (3) identify critical gaps in the literature and discuss future recommendations. The chapter takes a place-based approach and focuses on the communities and neighborhoods in which people with disabilities live. The chapter also explores how the intersection of disability and other social identities is influenced by the environment. Finally, the chapter concludes by discussing existing gaps in the literature and recommendations for future research.


2013 ◽  
pp. 332-343
Author(s):  
Eva Holmqvist ◽  
Margret Buchholz

Technical aids can contribute towards improved health and satisfaction in life by giving the user increased possibilities for participation in a number of areas of daily life. Assessing people with disabilities that affect their motor, communication and cognitive skills can be a complex matter. The result of an assessment might be the user’s only way of independent activity and communication. This stresses the importance of making high quality assessments. This chapter discusses the prerequisites, structure and key elements of a successful gaze control assessment.


Author(s):  
Angela Woollacott

The period between the 1830s and the 1910s is significant for the rapid expansion of the British and French Empires in particular and fierce interimperial rivalries, as well as the late rise of non-European empires. The warfare that characterized imperial expansion and indigenous resistance, as sparked by imperial invasions and gradual conquests of colonial territories, including the suppression of uprisings, was often diffuse and chaotic. This chapter considers how the contact zones of aggressively expanding colonialism were structured by violence, in places ranging from the British settler colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to Crown colonies of various European empires, including British India, the Netherlands East Indies, and French Indochina. It assesses the intersections of gender and militarized violence on frontiers and in the daily life of colonial societies.


1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Krefting ◽  
Nora Groce

People with disabilities make up a significant part of the human family, with estimates of their numbers ranging from the tens to the hundreds of millions worldwide. One highly regarded estimate places the number of significantly disabled individuals—people with serious hearing, vision, mobility, or cognitive impairments—as high as one in every ten persons. Nor are these impairments recent in origin. Any review of written or oral history, or archaeological skeletal population, large or small, allows us to identify many individuals for whom a physical or mental impairment played a significant role in daily life.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Simpson ◽  
Moira Furlong ◽  
Clarissa Giebel

Abstract Background People living with Long Term Neurological Conditions (LTNCs) value peer support and social activities. Psychological support and wellbeing enables them to manage their condition. Social prescribing is a formal process of referring patients to a link worker to co-design a plan to improve their health and wellbeing. Intervention involves supporting participation in activities based within the individual’s local community. This study aimed to explore the barriers and enablers to accessing social prescribing for people living with LTNCs (plwLTNCs). Methods A total of four focus groups were carried out with 17 participants, including different neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Fragile X Syndrome, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. Two participants were family carers and supported people living with epilepsy and motor neurone disease. Findings were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Five themes were identified: (1) Lack of knowledge; (2) Service provision difficulties; (3) Benefits of social prescribing activities; (4) Physical barriers and (5) Psychological barriers. There was a lack of knowledge about social prescribing and what it actually was. Participants anticipated service provision difficulties relating to funding, link workers need for knowledge of LTNC’s and for activities to be varied and individualised. The potential benefits of social prescribing activities were recognised across the groups especially its potential to tackle loneliness and to offer plwLTNC’s purpose. Participants highlighted a number of physical barriers such as transport and accessibility; and psychological barriers such as anxiety and stigma. Conclusion Social prescribing aims to address the health inequalities of those living with long-term conditions, however currently it is likely to exclude plwLTNCs. Recommendations for future research are made.


Author(s):  
A. V. Hatrick

By making use of published data on the risks of earthquake occurrence in New Zealand, and on the risks of structural failure in the event of an earthquake occurring, a method is developed for estimating the risks of structural failure due to earthquakes. These risks are compared with the provisions of the New Zealand national building code, and with other risks which are accepted in daily life. Their use in economic decision making is illustrated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-178
Author(s):  
Risky Novialdi ◽  
Isvarwani Isvarwani ◽  
Fauzi Fauzi ◽  
Ilyas Ismail ◽  
Muammar Qadafi

Disabilitas menjadi topik permasalahan yang serius periode belakangan ini, hal tersebut dikarenakan penyandang disabilitas rawan akan berbagai tindakan diskriminasi secara fisik maupun mental, bahkan difabel rentan menjadi korban pelecehan seksual dalam ruang lingkup keluarga ataupun non difabel. Para disabilitas menghadapi berbagai problematika dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Penyandang disabilitas seringkali di tolak dengan alasan keterbatasan mereka, bahkan ada beberapa yang menjadikan sehat jasmani dan rohani sebagai syarat utama untuk bisa mangakses bidang-bidang tertentu. Bahkan pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) terhadap penyandang disabilitas masih dijumpai di lokasi sekitar. Kesenjangan yang diterima oleh penyandang disabilitas menjadi tekanan tersendiri bagi para difabel untuk memenuhi segala aspek kebutuhannya. Pemenuhan hak-hak disabilitas masih kurang diperhatikan, baik dalam sarana bangunan atau infastruktur, maupun fasilitas-fasilitas di tempat umum. Ketidaksetaraan juga terjadi dalam sektor pendidikan, lapangan pekerjaan, politik, dan aksesibilitas terhadap transportasi. Hal tersebut menunjukkan adanya perlakuan yang berbeda yang diterima oleh penyandang disabilitas terhadap layanan publik yang ramah bagi penyandang disabilitas.Disability has become a serious problem topic in recent times, this is because people with disabilities are prone to various acts of discrimination physically and mentally, even people with disabilities are vulnerable to being victims of sexual harassment within the family or non-disabled spheres. People with disabilities face various problems in their daily life. Persons with disabilities are often rejected on the grounds of their limitations, there are even some who make physically and mentally healthy as the main requirement to be able to access certain fields. Even human rights violations against persons with disabilities are still found in nearby locations. The gap that is accepted by people with disabilities is a separate pressure for people with disabilities to meet all aspects of their needs. Fulfillment of disability rights is still lacking in attention, both in building facilities or infrastructure, as well as facilities in public places. Inequality also exists in the sectors of education, employment, politics, and accessibility to transportation. This shows that there is a different treatment received by persons with disabilities towards public services that are friendly to persons with disabilities.


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