A MICROCOMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM FOR LOCATING ASSISTIVE AND ADAPTIVE DEVICES FOR HANDICAPPED INDIVIDUALS

THIS RESEARCH STUDY DEVELOPS AN INTERACTIVE, MICROCOMPUTER-BASED, ASSISTIVE AND ADAPTIVE DEVICE LOCATOR SYSTEM (ADLS) FOR DISABLED PERSONS. INFORMATION RETRIEVAL IS ORGANIZED AROUND A FUNCTIONAL MODEL OF IMPAIRMENTS AND CORRESPONDING ADAPTIVE DEVICES. THE DESIGN THEORY AND INITIAL DATA BASE CONTENT DRAW UPON EXTENSIVE RESOURCES PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED FOR PRINT MEDIA DEVICE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS. A PROTOTYPE ADLS MICROCOMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED AND EXTENSIVELY TESTED BY REPRESENTATIVES OF GROUPS OF POTENTIAL USERS, MANUFACTURERS OF ADAPTIVE DEVICES, AND PERSONS WHO TEACH AND COUNSEL OTHERS REGARDING THE UTILITES OF THESE DEVICES. BASED ON THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE AND THE RESULTS FROM FIELD-TESTS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND PLANS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A FULLY FUNCTIONAL ADLS SYSTEM WILL BE PROPOSED.