Easy Reading is a software tool supporting cognitive accessibility of web content. We want to enable people with cognitive disabilities to better read, understand and use all webpages. Our objective is to make webpages more accessible for everyone. The handbook provides information on joint research with people with cognitive disabilities, researchers and developers. In the Easy Reading project, people with learning difficulties research and develop as peer researchers.
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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore support persons’ views on remote communication for persons with communicative and cognitive disabilities, and on factors enabling self-determination and participation.
Materials and methods: Five focus groups with 21 support persons were conducted. They were recorded and transcribed and data were analyzed qualitatively using focus group analysis methodology.
Results: The participants experience how remote communication can enable users to have increased control in their lives and how remote communication can enable self-determination and participation. Access to remote communication has a dual effect on safety. There are experiences about communicative rights of the users not being met and there is a need for better access to technology, information, and experts. There is also a need for more competence and coordination among staff and support to the users. Challenges emerge in the support persons’ dedication to the users’ right to communicate.
Conclusion: People with communicative and cognitive disabilities need access to remote communication in order to have control over their own lives and to achieve self-determination and participation in society. Support persons carry a large responsibility and can provide valuable insights of users’ communication situation.
Background: Developments in the teaching of children with disabilities support pedagogy that emphasises learners’ strengths as opposed to their assumed deficiencies. Educators and mediators who advocate this view continually strive for tools and methodologies that enhance learner participation in academic environments. Computer technology is one of the tools recognised for its potential to enrich learning experiences of learners with an intellectual impairment.
Objectives: We sought to assess the influence of text-to-speech stories on the reading ability of intellectually challenged learners.
Method: A qualitative action research study that involves learners at a special school in Cape Town, South Africa. Pre- and post-test data of the reading performance of learners are analysed with a focus on how they demonstrate change.
Results: Although no claims can be made about the explicit influence on reading performance, computer-assisted learning has the potential in isolating reading processes that classroom-based interventions can address. In addition, computers enhance motivation and enthusiasm to learn.
Conclusion: A need for education based on inclusion and positive differentiation remains the key driver in any educational interventions.
The transformation of community care for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) through enhanced access to assistive technology (AT) is discussed. The problems associated with lack of access to AT and the extent to which these occur are reported. Issues in lack of AT provision, including lack of global standards, are discussed. A call to action is made with reference to the appropriate parts of CRPD.
Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 12:5, 426-428
