Emerging Needs and Opportunities for Human Factors Research (1995) / Chapter Skim
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3 Employment and Disabilities
3 Employment and Disabilities
Pages 106-130
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From page 106... ...
In addition to prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in the workplace and educational institutions, these initiatives require that equipment, facilities, and even jobs be designed to be reasonably accessible to disabled people. The human factors community can make important contributions to these designs and thereby enhance the ability of disabled people to fulfill their potential.
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From page 107... ...
Almost half of the disabled population live at or near the poverty level. Maintenance support programs cost approximately $100 billion per year, and this has doubled in the last 10 years (Vanderheiden, 1990)
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From page 108... ...
The great advances made in recent years in computer and communications technologies are making it possible for disabled people to perform the essential functions of an increasing number of jobs. Personal computers have been especially important in making these technologies affordable by individuals and are fostering a flowering of assistive devices and systems for people with disabilities (Bowe, 1984)
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From page 109... ...
, cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genito-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, and skin and endocrine. Mental impairment includes mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional and mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.
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From page 110... ...
Many of the techniques, data, and even designs that are used to enhance employment potential will also be appropriate for life activities in other areas, such as the home and recreation. Yet even the topic of employment is huge.
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From page 111... ...
As both technology and our knowledge of disabilities advance, it will be possible to provide more capable assistive devices, a wider range of equipment modifications, and better access to facilities as well as to restructure more jobs to fit individual capabilities at acceptable costs. The language of the ADA leads us to think in terms of modifying existing work environments, equipment, and jobs.
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From page 112... ...
There is a need to develop generic approaches to design that are aimed at the major disability subgroups and that allow tailoring to individual needs. Third, employment is a large and complex domain.
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From page 113... ...
Moreover, efforts by human factors specialists to accommodate the needs of the disabled population in equipment design will advance human factors as a discipline by directing its attention to designs and methods that will be effective over a much wider range of individual capabilities (Griffith et al., 1989)
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From page 114... ...
Design We are concerned with three types of design: • design or redesign of jobs so that disabled people can perform the essential tasks and not be disqualified by inability to perform nonessential tasks; • design of equipment and systems so that they are accessible for use by disabled people; and • design of assistive equipment to enhance the performance of people with disabilities or to allow them to use systems and equipment designed for the general able-bodied population. There are extensive opportunities and an enormous need for human factors contributions to these design efforts.
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From page 115... ...
Literally thousands of assistive devices have been designed to enhance the performance of disabled people or to enable them to use systems designed for the able-bodied (ABLE DATA, 1989; Trace Research and Development Center, 1988)
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From page 116... ...
Models need to be extended, and this will require using and adding to the body of relevant data about the performance of disabled populations. Human factors specialists can assist in these tasks and help develop models of human performance that represent the performance of people with specified disabilities.
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From page 117... ...
There is an extensive literature from the medical, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, prosthesis, and other specialized communities on the characteristics of various disabled populations. Not much of this information has found its way into the human factors literature, in part because it is not well organized for use in human factors design.
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From page 118... ...
In designing for disabled people, human factors specialists can apply a collection of already well-developed and widely used analysis techniques. The human factors designers do not need to develop or extend the techniques themselves but must merely apply them to jobs and tasks that disabled people are capable of performing.
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From page 119... ...
(We deliberately use the language of the ADA here.) The second problem is that the method takes for granted certain ancillary skills or capabilities, such as mobility, that may be impaired in disabled populations.
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From page 120... ...
Many assistive devices are described in the technical literature, as well as in catalogs and product brochures. There is little in the technical literature about design or redesign of jobs to accommodate disabled workers.
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From page 121... ...
Design for Accessibility It would be enormously beneficial to disabled populations if common devices, systems, and environments were designed to be accessible to people with disabilities as well as to able-bodied people. However, as Vanderheiden (1990)
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From page 122... ...
Making fuller provision for the disabled will certainly have an impact on system design. Design of Assistive Devices and Systems Many adaptive hardware devices and specially designed software packages have been developed to enable disabled people to use computers (Casali and Williges, 1990; ABLE DATA, 1989; Trace Research and Development Center, 1988)
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From page 123... ...
The rich menu of assistive devices and systems raises the problem of how to locate and select a particular device that matches the needs of an individual user. Large databases catalog the devices that are available (ABLE DATA, 1989; Trace Research and Development Center, 1988)
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From page 124... ...
To adapt general models so that they represent the characteristics of disabled populations and of individuals within these populations will require new data from these populations and probably some model extensions. This will take considerable effort.
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From page 125... ...
Data are required for all major disability subgroups. A structure must be developed and key performance parameters identified so that the data can be applied to disability subgroups that have distinctly different performance characteristics and still allow customization to individual performance, when required.
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From page 126... ...
Systematic methods for characterizing assistive devices and systems and matching them to particular users should be investigated and tested. Evaluation Models, Tools, and Experiments Performance data for people with specific disabilities should be incorporated into existing computer-based performance models and simulation tools so that they can be applied to designing for people with disabilities.
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From page 127... ...
This could provide up-to-date information not only about assistive devices but also about employment opportunities, services, training programs, activities of specialinterest groups, recent legislation pertaining to disabilities, and who is doing what in disability-related research and development, as well as suggestions and advice on the use of specific devices. Such an exchange would put disabled people in two-way contact with other individuals and groups with common problems/interests.
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From page 128... ...
Huey, eds. 1990 Human Performance Models for Computer-Aided Engineering.
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From page 129... ...
Trace Research and Development Center on Com munication, Control, and Computer Access for Handicapped Individuals. Madi son: University of Wisconsin.
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From page 130... ...
1988 Considerations in the Design of Computers and Operating Systems to Increase Their Accessibility to Persons With Disabilities. Design Consideration Task Force, Trace Research and Development Center on Communication, Control, and Com puter Access for Handicapped Individuals.
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