The First Hundred Yards: Navigation Planning Systems for People with Cognitive Impairments

辅助技术领域在改善认知障碍人士的社区出行方面已经取得了初步进展，多个大型研究中心致力于为该用户社区开发途中辅助（系统和设备）。 然而，这种关注忽略了该人群使用此类设备所需的关键和基本技能。 记忆、新学习和执行功能（即启动、计划）方面的困难会阻止潜在的设备用户走出家门，甚至无法打开设备或工具。 PI的数据表明，大多数旅行注定失败并不是因为途中旅行问题，而是因为缺乏旅行准备以及未能成功出门到达第一个公共汽车或出租车站来开始旅行。 在这个项目中，PI 将解决“前一百码”的问题，假设可以（a）设计有效的旅行准备系统，在社区访问方面支持认知障碍人群，以及（b）避免该人群丢弃设备的常见问题。 研究方法基于以下假设：旅行系统的成功设计过程必须与捕捉个人目标和技能的个人需求工程过程联系起来；设计过程必须是复合的，同时考虑到基于计算机的组件和人员；该问题必须根据具体情况解决，这意味着需要吸引安全网的成员和许多目的地已经到位的社区服务提供商来帮助旅行者。 该项目建立在 PI 十五年的脑损伤人群经验以及五年提供基于计算机的辅助技术的经验的基础上。 它的基础是对人们在社区准入方面的愿望和需求进行全面研究。 先前在辅助技术和脑损伤人群方面的工作已证明非常成功的两阶段评估方法将用于评估这项研究的结果。 更广泛的影响：美国每年有超过 100 万成年人被诊断出因神经系统疾病或创伤而患有认知障碍，据估计，目前有多达 1600 万美国人患有慢性脑部疾病。 严重创伤性脑损伤的发病率高于脊髓损伤、多发性硬化症、脑瘫和肌营养不良症的发病率总和。 不幸的是，创伤和其他疾病造成的认知障碍是一种“无声的流行病”，因为研究和技术资源被过度分配来帮助那些容易观察到的盲人、聋人或身体残疾的人。 该项目将尝试通过为因后天性脑损伤而患有认知障碍的个人提供使用各种交通方式（包括步行、特殊需求货车和固定路线公共交通）获取公共社区资源的能力，从而纠正这种不平衡。

The field of assistive technology has made initial strides towards improving community travel for people with cognitive impairments, with several large research centers devoted to developing on-route assistance (systems and devices) for this user community. This focus, however, ignores critical and fundamental skills necessary for this population to utilize such devices. Difficulties with memory, new learning and executive functions (i.e., initiation, planning) prevent potential device users from getting out the door and even turning on a device or tool. The PI's data suggests that most trips are doomed not because of on-route travel problems, but rather due to lack of trip preparation and failure to successfully start a trip by getting out the door and to the first bus or taxi stop. In this project, the PI will take on this problem of "the first hundred yards" under the hypothesis is that it is possible to (a) design effective trip preparation systems that can support the cognitively impaired population in terms of community access, and (b) avoid the common problem of device abandonment for this population. The research approach is based on the following assumptions: that a successful design process for a travel system must be linked to a personal requirements engineering process that captures the goals and skills of individuals; that the design process must be composite, taking into account both computer-based components and people; and that the problem must be solved in context, which implies drawing in both members of a safety-net and community service-providers already in place at many destinations to assist a traveler. The project builds on the PI's fifteen years of experience with the brain injury population, as well as five years of experience delivering computer-based assistive technology. It has at its foundation a comprehensive study of the desires and needs of the population in terms of community access. A two-phase evaluation approach, which has proven highly successful in prior work on assistive technology and the brain-injury population, will be used to assess the outcomes of this research.Broader Impacts: More than a million adults in the United States are diagnosed annually with cognitive impairments due to neurological disease or trauma, and it is estimated that there are currently up to 16 million Americans living with chronic brain disorders. Incidence rates for severe traumatic brain injury are higher than those for spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy combined. Unfortunately, cognitive disability from trauma and other conditions represents a "silent epidemic" in that research and technological resources are disproportionately distributed to help those who are blind, deaf or physically disabled, conditions which are easily observable. This project will attempt to redress this imbalance by affording individuals living with cognitive impairment due to acquired brain injury the ability to access public community resources using various modes of transportation, including walking, special-needs vans, and fixed-route public transport.