Assistive Technologies for Library Patrons with Visual Disabilities

ABSTRACT

This study provides an overview of the various products available for library patrons with blindness or visual impairments. To provide some insight into the status of library services for patrons with blindness, a sample of American universities that are recognized for their programs for students with visual impairments was surveyed to discern which assistive technology products are available in their libraries. The results of the study are analyzed and conclusions are offered.     

Disability and returns to education in a developing country

In this paper, we estimate wage returns to investment in education for persons with disabilities in Nepal, using information on the timing of being impaired during school-age years as identifying instrumental variables for years of schooling. We employ unique data collected from persons with hearing, physical, and visual impairments as well as nationally representative survey data from the Nepal Living Standard Survey 2003/2004 (NLSS II). After controlling for endogeneity bias arising from schooling decisions as well as sample selection bias due to endogenous labor participation, the estimated rate of returns to education is very high among persons with disabilities, ranging from 19.3 to 25.6%. The coexistence of these high returns to education and limited years of schooling suggest that supply side constraints in education to accommodate persons with disabilities and/or there are credit market imperfections. Policies to eliminate these barriers will mitigate poverty among persons with disabilities, the largest minority group in the world.     

Correlation Between Proinflammatory Serum Markers: High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein,Interleukin-6 with Disability Score in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Stroke being the third leading cause of death and foremost cause of disability, if potential diagnostic utility of blood borne protein biomarkers in predicting acute stroke is established, it would be a substantial adjunct to computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging which have their own limitations. This study was done to correlate serum Interleukin 6, high sensitivity C reactive protein at the time of admission with neurological worsening assessed by NIHSS at the time of admission and 7 days after admission. 46 Patients admitted in neurology department SAIMS, Indore with first ever ischemic stroke within 72 h of onset were included in the study. All patients with history of stroke of more than 72 h onset, Infection & peripartum stroke were excluded from the study. Disability scoring was done by NIHSS and their serum samples assayed for hsCRP, IL6 by commercially available quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay kits. Serum samples of 50 control cases which included healthy volunteers and staff from SAIMS were also analyzed for hsCRP, IL6 for comparative study. A significant correlation was observed between NIHSS scoring and serum hsCRP and IL6 at the time of admission. Patients with initial high serum IL6 and hsCRP also showed significant clinical deterioration as assessed by NIHSS scoring 7 days after admission. Elevated hsCRP and IL6 within 72 h of admission strongly correlated with functional disability in study population in India and may serve as useful adjunct to CT Scan in emergency setting.     

Exploring the organizational capacity and organizational problems of disability sport clubs in Germany using matched pairs analysis

Previous research examining people with disabilities has mainly looked at participation barriers and has formulated implications for sport providers; however, the supply side has been largely neglected. The purpose of this study was to explore the organizational capacity and organizational problems of clubs that provide sport for people with disabilities (referred to as ‘disability sport clubs’). The conceptual model of organizational capacity was used as a theoretical framework. Within a German sport club sample (n = 19,345), a sub-sample of disability sport clubs (n = 521) was identified. The idea was to compare disability sport clubs with other sport clubs; however, comparing a small sub-sample with a large rest-sample may inevitably lead to statistical significance. Therefore, a matched pairs analysis was applied. Since disability sport clubs were significantly larger in terms of members and sports and were located in bigger communities, statistical twins were identified in the dataset that were similar in size and location. The results showed that clubs providing sport for people with disabilities are not specific disability sport clubs. Evidently, these are large multi-sports clubs that have greater capacity for catering for older adults and low-income people, for strategic planning, and for establishing relationships with other institutions in the community than their statistical twins. The regression results indicated that strategic planning significantly contributed to the reduction of several organizational problems of disability sport clubs. The findings have implications for policy makers, club management, and sport management scholars.     

Development and validation of the motivation scale for disability sport consumption

While there is a growing body of knowledge on disability sport consumer behavior (Byon et al., 2011, Byon et al., 2010a), these studies used scales explicitly designed for non-disability sport contexts, showing only reasonable model fit and not examining factors specific to the disability sport consumer experience. This publication represents the first attempt to identify specific disability sport motives and develop a scale, the Motivation Scale for Disability Sport Consumption (MSDSC). Newly identified disability sport motives include inspiration, supercrip image and disability cultural education. These were examined in conjunction with factors from Trail and James (2001) and Trail (2010). Data were collected at the 2011 collegiate wheelchair basketball championships; results were collected to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results indicated that a 9-factor model was most appropriate. Significant motives included physical attraction, drama, escape, inspiration, physical skill, social interaction, violence, and supercrip image. The model fit was improved over the Byon studies and was comparable to relevant non-adaptive motive studies (Lee et al., 2009, Trail and James, 2001, Robinson et al., 2004). This scale represents a tool for practitioners and academics to effectively examine spectators of disability sport.     

Transition to formal schooling of children with disabilities: A systematic review

Since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, the educational trajectories of children with disabilities have increasingly become the focus of public interest and the subject of empirical research. The transition to school has received special attention in this research. Yet a systematic overview of current research in this area is not available. The present article therefore offers a systematic review of the state of research on the transition to formal schooling of children with disabilities. The review is based on an understanding of educational transitions derived from ecological systems theory and a model of inclusive transition developed by the authors, which is used as a conceptual framework for the analysis. The evaluation of the studies included (N = 55) shows that various research methods are used, with interview and questionnaire surveys being the most prevalent. In terms of content, most studies focus on the subjective perspectives of parents, teachers, and external service providers involved in the transition to school. It becomes clear that the perspectives of these three groups are largely similar regarding perceived barriers and facilitators of successful transitions. Studies examining the perspectives of the children and their peers are sparse, however, as are studies that focus on the general social conditions and moderating processes in the transition. Finally, the results are discussed and perspectives for further research are derived.     

Parents’ Perspectives on Surf Therapy for Children with Disabilities

This qualitative study was designed to understand parents’ perceptions of their children’s participation in an inclusive surf therapy programme in the United States. Ten parents and one caregiver were interviewed about theirs and their children’s experience in the surf programme. Parent discussions centred on the child, parent/caregiver, instructor and challenges of parenting. Results indicate that parents perceive surf therapy to positively impact their child physically, socially and behaviourally. Findings also suggest cost, an inclusive, family-centred approach and opportunities for socialisation with other families were important to parents’ satisfaction.     

Accessibility design issues with UK e-government sites

The research seeks to provide the audience and web designers with a higher level of awareness about the level of accessibility problems within the e-government sector, specifically a sampling of 130 sites of the UK members of Parliament. The study applies the results of an online accessibility testing tool to analyze the compliance levels of both UK disability law and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The research also show which guideline errors are the most prevalent among the sites and raises awareness about the issues of access in e-government. Although the UK's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 provides equality in access of websites to people with disabilities, the results of this study show that total openness of sites to these customers is not widespread and the vast majority of sites display similar non-compliance errors among the guidelines. For each of these issues, there are published methods that web designers can implement to improve the accessibility rankings of their sites and provide greater openness to users with disabilities.