Award Data

There are a significant number of people in the U.S. whose literacy deficits significantly limit opportunities for written self-expression, including individuals with intellectual disabilities. While this population can offer revealing insights given their unique perspectives, self-expression often occurs in the dependent context of transcription by another person, or, perhaps too often, not at al ...

People with intellectual disability depend a great deal on work for their quality of life. Working in community-based jobs can make substantial differences in income, relationships and self-esteem. Technology has improved opportunities for this population to independently express their career interests, but current tools are limited in that they do not support customization to reflect local job an ...

The project addresses the needs of students and adults with intellectual disabilities forwritten self-expression by designing, developing, and testing a universally designed, multimediacompositioning software application. This application creates a specific format for independent expressionof thoughts, ideas, experiences, knowledge, personal history, and other typical literary output. Thesystem pr ...

This project develops a location-based method for improving access to information in thecommunity (i.e.: public places such as parks, zoos, bus station and stops, information kiosks, touristattractions, and other places of public accommodation) that is not solely in text format. This projectaddresses the need for alternative formats by designing, developing, and testing a Pocket PC-basedsoftware s ...

This project addresses the critical need for money management skills training necessary forindependent community living through the development of a software system (Money Coach). MoneyCoach utilizes both hand-held technology and desktop software to assist individuals with intellectualdisabilities with money management and related skills. Project goals include: (1) developing project requirements ...

This project develops and evaluates a multimedia instant messaging (IM) system, VisualMessenger, that is designed to be usable independently by individuals with intellectual and othercognitive disabilities. The prototype software system developed in this project is used in a betweensubjectspilot study comparing it with mainstream IM applications to measure its effectiveness in termsof independent ...

This project evaluates the technical merit and feasibility of Pocket Email, a PDA-basedaccessible email program which is universally designed to meet the unique needs of individuals withintellectual disabilities for communicating via email with family members and other caregivers while incommunity settings. Recent PDA and wireless technology developments, such as Blackberry orPocket Outlook, have ...

Data from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) indicates that 4-6% of adults in the US have insufficient reading skills to attempt participation in NAAL s literacy assessment in 1992 (Literacy in the Labor Force, p. 310-320). While there are approximately 8 million individuals with intellectual disabilities (e.g., mental retardation) in the US, there is no data specific to the subset o ...

Significant barriers existing today for individuals with intellectual disabilities preventing independent access to written information. The plethora of materials available electronically, including books, biographies, classic literature, and leisure titles, grows daily with the popularity of audio books as well as talking book services for individuals with visual disabilities. Regrettably, tools ...

Development and evaluation of Wayfinder, a portable system that integrates Palmtop computers, global positioning systems, and instant messaging technology, to provide intelligent audio and visual cues to facilitate independent rail navigation