Accepted the invitation to be one of the reviewers for a special session (Applied Assistive Robotic Care) in the
ICIRA 2016 conference, and delighted to see some low cost and simple, yet creative solutions for the people with physical impairment.
In the past, being physically impaired often means being condemned to a life of confinement and institutionalization. The society used to view the dysfunction of the disabled people to participate in society as a direct result of their very intrinsic impairment condition, rather than as the result of other external factors of the society – a typical perception rooted in the Medical Model of Disability (Read, 2003; Hersh and Johnson, 2008). Under this model, the cure or assistance being offered to the disabled people revolves around clinical treatment on the person such as occupational therapy and rehabilitation, in the attempt to restore the person back to a normal life within the society.
In contrary, the Social Model of Disability emphasizes the distinction between ‘impairment’ and the ‘disability’ experienced by the disabled people. This model views the problems faced by the disabled people as mainly caused by the physical, environmental and social barriers extrinsic to the individuals rather than the impairment within them (Swain et al., 2003). ‘Disability’ is thus defined as the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the society on an equal level with others due to physical, environmental or social barriers (Hersh and Johnson, 2008; Christensen and Byrne, 2014). The lack of consideration in designing a barrier-free society is one of the main causes preventing the disabled people from taking part in most societal functions. Removing the barriers can bring about significant changes to the situation.
In view of the Social Model, it is observable that most modern cities have given considerable emphasis to the policies of universal accessible design. While in the less developed or low to middle income countries where the local policies or systems are not favoring the Social Model, the battle for equal opportunities for the people with impairment may rely on some emerging technological approaches, apart from the conventional aids. With advances of technologies i.e. lower cost in production, pervasion of ubiquitous and smaller hardware, smarter systems with better software; we would expect that the challenges of the past are indeed the opportunities of today.
* This article is part of an open innovation effort to crowdsource ideas and thoughts for a research project in assistive technologies. Assistive technology (AT): products, equipment, and systems that enhance learning, working, and daily living for persons with disabilities.
List of Reference:
CHRISTENSEN, K. M. & BYRNE, B. C. 2014. The Built Environment and Community Integration. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 25, 186-195.
HERSH, M. A. & JOHNSON, M. A. 2008. Disability and Assistive Technology Systems. In: HERSH, M. A. & JOHNSON, M. A. (eds.) Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired and Blind People. Springer London.
READ, J. 2003. Controversial Issues in a Disabling Society, John Swain, Sally French and Colin Cameron, Buckingham, Open University Press, 2003, pp. v 198, ISBN 0 335 20904 1, 17.99. The British Journal of Social Work, 33, 837-839.
SWAIN, J., GRIFFITHS, C. & HEYMAN, B. 2003. Towards a Social Model Approach to Counselling Disabled Clients. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 31, 137-52.
Author Profile:
Kuan Yew is currently a sessional academic staff cum graduate research student in the School of Information Technology at Monash University Malaysia. His research focuses on assistive technology to aide mobility for the blind and low vision community. In his earlier research, he worked on intelligent systems, classification and optimization for biomedical data processing. His current research explores computer vision, image processing, wearable assistive technologies and human-robot interaction.
