Engineering Senior Design Projects to Aid Persons with Disabilities

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0454456EnderleThe objective of the proposed project is the design and construction of projects to aid persons with disabilities by students in the University of Connecticut BME Senior Design course. The purpose of the work is three-fold. The first purpose is to provide an opportunity for practical and creative problem solving by students in addressing a well-defined problem for meeting the required design component of their study program. A positive outcome of this involvement is that persons with disabilities receive devices that provide significant improvement in quality of life and independence at no cost to the recipients. This is especially important in light of the distance learning component of this proposal, as the clients to be served reside in an economically deprived Appalachian region of Southeast Ohio. In many cases, development of devices and/or software for an individual may lead to applications for others with similar disabilities. Students are also exposed to a unique body of applied information on current technology in the area of rehabilitation design. The second purpose is to motivate students, graduate engineers and other health care professionals to work more actively in rehabilitation, towards an increased technology and knowledge base, to effectively address the needs of persons with disabilities. This complements the implementation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The third purpose is to allow for the controlled study of the pedagogical efficacy of the specific experiential teaching/learning processes to be incorporated into the proposed design experiences. Gilbert B. DeveyApril 5,2005