TECHNOLOGY FOR TRAINING AND PLACEMENT OF HANDICAPPED PERSONS

THE PROJECT THRUST IS TO INVESTIGATE TECHNIQUES AND TE TECHNOLOGY TO MODIFY REGIONAL SATELLITE-BASED INSTRUCTIONAL AUDIO/VIDEO DELIVERY SYSTEMS TO ACCOMODATE AUDIO AND DATA RESPONSES FROM HANDICAPPED INDIVIDUALS. PRESENTLY, THE REG REGIONAL MODEL INCORPORATES AUDIO TALKBACK VIA TERRESTRIAL TELEPHONE LINES FOR INTERACTION. WHILE THIS SYSTEM IS ADEQ UATE FOR NON-HANDICAPPED STUDENTS, A MORE FLEXIBLE RESPONSE SYSTEM WILL BE REQUIRED FOR HANDICAPPED STUDENTS. IT WILL BENECESSARY TO PROVIDE FEATURES SUCH AS CONTINUOUS DEDICATED AUDIO RETURN PATHS (I.E. NOT DIAL UP TELEPHONE LINES) AND DIGITAL RETURN DATA LINKS (TELETYPE IN LIEU OF AUDIO RO RESPONSE) TO ACCOMODATE CERTAIN HANDICAPPING CONDITIONS. SOME STUDENTS MAY REQUIRE THE USE OF WRITTEN MESSAGES TO DIGITAL SIGNAL TRANSLATION PRIOR TO TRANSMISSION. THESE TECHNIQUES REQUIRE THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOW COST SATELLITE EE EARTH STATION TRANSMIT TERMINALS CAPABLE OF BOTH ANALOG AND DIGITAL TRANSMISSION, A MASTER RECEIVING TERMINAL (FOR USE AT THE PROGRAMMING ORIGINATING POINT) AND A LOW COST DEMAND ASSIGNMENT MULTIPLE ACCESS (DAMA) PROTOCOL WHICH WILL ALLOW A SINGLE SATELLITE VOICE AND DATA CIRCUIT TO BE SHARED BY MANY DIFFERENT HANDICAPPED STUDENTS. A NUMBER OF SPECIAL PURPOSE VOICE AND DATA INPUT DEVICES MUST BE DEVELOPED TO ENABLE THE LARGEST NUMBER OF HANDICAPPED STUDENTS TO BENEFITFROM THE SYSTEM.