The use, role and application
of advanced technology in
the lives of disabled people in
the U.K.
• Professor Jennifer Harris, Prof. John Arnott, Dr. Nick Hine, Dr. Thilo Kroll
and Dr. Fiona Bolik
© University of Dundee
1
Advanced Technologies in the lives of Disabled
People
Overall Findings:
 Access problems included:
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Cost (of devices, updates of software)
Information on available products
Specialist disability market is costly
Lack of training for service users
Aesthetics of devices
Advanced Technology Project:
The research problem:
a) Under-use of ‘prescribed’ assistive technological devices
b) Designers and engineers are driven by different motives
to disabled people
 So….. disabled people want better functioning devices,
and designers and engineers need to start from the
user’s perspective
Advanced Technology Project:
Method
 45 in-depth interviews with disabled people across
Scotland and England (UK)
 7 User Clubs
 4 Focus Groups in ‘care’ settings
 Innovation Day for disabled people, designers,
engineers, architects, NGOs, private and public service
providers
Advanced Technology Project:
Orientation
 Social model of disability (Oliver 1990)
 The frustrations and joys of using specialised and
mainstream market devices –and future wishes
 How do technologies assist or hinder disabled people
in independent living?
Advanced Technology Project:
Findings
 Participants were out of step with the market
– Participants were struggling with old devices and poor
systems
– Cost of new devices was prohibitive
– Users were lost in the ‘digital divide’:
– No Choice in Specialist device provision from the State
– Too much choice in Mainstream market
 Professional power issues in programming devices like
‘talkers’
Advanced Technology Project:
The Users’ Blue Skies Innovations
 Face-controlled electric wheelchair;
 A solar-powered battery for a ‘talker’
 Gardening devices
 A multiple-use fine hand-movement device
 A voice activated fully automatic car
 For Deaf and hearing impaired users,
– a ‘missed calls register’
– a cheap and useable videophone
– a device that translates spoken word into text
Advanced Technology Project:
Future possibilities and issues
 Infra-red switch technology, Bluetooth and wireless
systems
– Abandon wired systems
– Multiple remote control device issues
 Voice recognition software
– Exciting possibilities for text entry and command
– Software made copious errors
– Laborious to train the software
Advanced Technology Project:
Barriers and Facilitators to Learning to use Technologies
Barriers to learning
Facilitators to learning
Training
Poor/ rushed training
from:
Provider
family
technician
No training/support
Excessive cost of training
Good training from:
Provider; employer; social worker;
electrician; technician; on-line peers;
friends; helpline; helpers at respite care
centre; charity; Speech therapist
Instructions/
manuals
Difficult to understand
manual
Specific problems with;
reading instructions
concentration
commands
Prefer human instruction
Easy to understand manual
On-line instructions
Demonstration:
human
Program talk-through
Family
Issue of dependence
Family could be best placed to help with
learning
Advanced Technology Project:
Pragmatic, Manipulation and Psychological Issues in learning to use
technologies
Pragmatic
issues
BARRIERS TO LEARNING
FACILITATORS TO
LEARNING
Time, patience, cost
Lack of on-going support
Connecting older and new
devices
Non-compatibility of software
Knowledge/capacities
assumptions by designers
Remembering Functions:
including;
of environmental control device
phone memory
commands for computer
Locating phone buttons
Terminology difficult to follow
Symbols instead of words
Self teaching: through;
Trial and error
On-line/video learning
Perseverance over years
Aim for independence
Enjoyment
Advanced Technology Project:
Manipulation Issues
BARRIERS TO
LEARNING
Electronic reader
controls
Scooter controls
Size of buttons on
remote controls
Navigation through
menus on mobile
phones
FACILITATORS TO
LEARNING
Storage capacity of new
technology in
comparison to old
Flexible and
transferable functions
between devices
Advanced Technology Project:
Psychological Issues
BARRIERS TO LEARNING
FACILITATORS TO LEARNING
Fearing own inadequacy in
capacity to understand how to
use technology
Enhanced self-esteem from
mastering computer functions
Fear of damaging device
Embarrassment at ‘computer
ignorance’
Frustration: including;
‘Hard work’
Complexity of functions
Enhanced confidence from
proficiency
Transferable confidence
Learn only necessary techniques
Advanced Technology Project:
Service User Wishes
A Service user….
• has voice activated software in the office and at home
• has a headset which is plugged into the back of
computer..
‘ I can’t use my hands, so once that headset’s on …well especially at home, when I’m on my own, if its on, I
can’t do anything. If the doorbell rings or the phone
rings I can knock it off and go and answer the phone
but that’s, of course that’s it, can’t go back on it again’
He needs to:
• drive up to rather than have it attached to his head
• Engineer built a booth that sits on the top of computer
Advanced Technology Project:
Flexibilities of devices
 Deaf user in the shower, has a pager for front door bell.
The device has no ‘missed calls’ register – so the user
has no idea that the visitor is still outside. However,
‘missed call register’ is a standard function on mobile
phones –why not on these pagers?
Advanced Technology Project:
Voice recognition example: ’Jim’
[‘Jim’ to Computer:] “Wake up... start Microsoft Word...
<‘Jim’>’s address”...
[Computer prints Jim’s address]...
“Select all... right align that... left click”... [Computer
replaces address with ‘Backlight’]...
“Scratch that... mouse left click”... [Computer: no
response]...
“Mouse left click... [Computer: no response]...
“Go to sleep... [Computer inserts the word
‘Consciously’]
“Scratch that... go to sleep”.
Advanced Technology Project:
User Innovation Day issues
 Size of new technological devices
 Disabled people excluded from mobile phones
by credit system
 Sign Language users excluded as mobile
instructions are in written English and must
register using speech
 Affordability and dexterity of mobiles are major
issues. High street chains can sell unusable
products to disabled people legally
Advanced Technology Project:
User Innovation Day Issues 2
 DDA 2005 makes discrimination in services against
disabled people illegal but does not cover products or
design – this is a loophole
 Ricability and the Disability Rights Commission
campaigned for ‘universal design’ to be included in the
DDA but they were unsuccessful
Advanced Technology Project:
User Innovation Day issues 3
 Water, gas and electricity are classed as utilities.
The UK Government makes special provision to
ensure disabled people’s full access to these
services. Phones are classed as a luxury item –
Should landline phones be classed as a
utility?
 Many disabled people cannot use public phone
boxes as they are not fully accessible. Mobile
phones are not a luxury item but a necessity for
disabled people
Advanced Technology Project:
Summary
 Size
 Choice
 Flexibility
 Aesthetics
 Law
 Access
Publications
 Harris J (2003) 'All doors are closed to us': a social model analysis of the
experiences of disabled refugees and asylum seekers in Britain' Disability &
Society, Vol. 18, No.4. 2003, pp.393-408. Available on-line from IDRIS at:
 http://www.idris.ac.uk/book/Social%20Inclusion/all%20doors.pdf
 Harris J (2003) 'All doors are closed to us': a social model analysis of the
experiences of disabled refugees and asylum seekers in Britain'
Disability & Society, Vol. 18, No.4. 2003, pp.393-408.
 Harris, J., Foster, M., Jackson, K. and Morgan, H. (2005) Outcomes for Disabled
Service Users, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, York, available
at:
 http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/pubs/192/
 Harris J. (2004) 'Incorporating the social model into outcome-focused social care
practice with disabled people' In Barnes C & Mercer G (Eds) 'Implementing The
Social Model of Disability: Theory & Research and Social Care' Leeds,
Disability Press
More publications
 Harris, J., Arnott J., Hine N., & Kroll T., (2009) ‘The Use, Role and
Application of Advanced Technology in the lives of disabled people’
Final report to the Economic and Social Research Council, UK.
Available at:
http://www.idris.ac.uk/book/Advance%20Tec/Project%20Report%20
FINAL%20copy%20for%20website.doc
 Harris J, (2010) ‘The Use, Role and Application of Advanced
Technology in the lives of Disabled People in the UK’ Disability &
Society Vol 25. Issue 4., pp 427-439.
 Oliver M (1990) The Politics of Disablement, Basingstoke,
Macmillan.
 Sherer, M J & Galvin J C 'An outcomes perspective of quality
pathways to the most appropriate technology' In JC Galvin, M J
Sherer (Eds) Evaluating, selecting and using appropriate assistive
technology Gaithersberg MD: Aspen, 1996: 1-26
Thank you for listening
Acknowledgements to Funders
The IDRIS research teams gratefully acknowledge financial support
from:
Economic and Social Research Council: Award number RES-062-230177,
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation,
The Big Lottery
and the UK Department of Health.
Visit us at www.idris.ac.uk