Comprehensive Telecommunication for People with Tetraplegia

描述（由申请人提供）：有超过700，000名患有严重身体障碍（SPI）的美国人，他们几乎没有独立访问语音通话，短信和视频通话等电信服务的选择。无法独立和可靠地获得这些服务影响了他们生活的许多方面。培养友谊变得更加困难，几乎不可能满足新的社会和专业规范，以沟通或管理个人护理助理和医疗需求，独立获得紧急服务往往是不可能的。也许更具破坏性的是对自我形象和心理健康的影响。有身体缺陷和残疾之间有一个关键的区别。它是无法参与 生活方式因素，包括社区联系和社交网络，使人残疾。辅助技术如果实施得好，可以弥补身体缺陷造成的残疾，并通过改善与他人的关系和服务，帮助人们更充分地参与社会。我们建议建立一个无障碍电信系统，在当地电信基础设施允许的范围内，为固定电话、手机和基于互联网的语音、文本和视频通信提供独立和可靠的接入。我们的团队将通过为基于Windows的计算机创建一个可访问的VoIP电话来实现这一目标，该电话针对辅助技术的控制进行了优化。这款手机将提供语音、视频、即时消息和SMS（短消息服务）短信服务。为了满足那些无法访问高速互联网的人的需求（无论是由于定位或互联网服务的限制），我们还将创建一个可访问的蓝牙扬声器，使语音访问固定电话和手机。这个新的电信系统的可行性将通过招募9名患有SPI的成年人来证明，以测试该系统为期2个月的家庭试用期。我们将招募三名参与者，他们的主要通信媒介将是高速互联网，三名参与者的主要通信媒介将是他们的家庭固定电话，三名参与者将使用手机。我们预测这些成年人将能够独立可靠地获得可用的电信服务，他们的能力，适应能力和自尊心将得到改善。参与者将从亚太区残疾人网络招募。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There are over 700,000 Americans with severe physical impairments (SPIs) who have few options for independently accessing telecommunication services such as voice calls, text messaging, and video calling. The inability to independently and reliably access these services impacts many aspects of their lives. Nurturing friendships becomes more difficult, it is practically impossible to meet new social and professional norms for communicating or to manage personal care assistants and medical needs, and independent access to emergency services is often not possible. Perhaps even more devastating is the impact on self-image and mental health. There is a critical distinction between having a physical impairment and having a disability. It is the inability to participate in lifestyle factors, including community connections and social networks, that makes someone disabled. Assistive technology, when implemented well, can remediate a disability caused by physical impairment and help people to participate more fully in society through improved relationships and service to others. We propose to create an accessible telecom system that provides independent and reliable access to landline, cellphone, and internet-based voice, text, and video communication to the extent allowed by the local telecom infrastructure. Our team will accomplish this by creating an accessible VoIP phone for Windows-based computers optimized for control by assistive technology. This phone will provide access to voice, video, instant messaging, and SMS (short message service) texting. To address the needs of people who do not have access to high-speed internet (either because of limitations due to positioning or internet service limitations), we will also create an accessible Bluetooth speakerphone that will enable voice access to landline and cell phones. Feasibility of this new telecom system will be demonstrated by recruiting nine adults with SPI to test the system for a 2-month in-home trial period. We will recruit three participants whose primary telecommunications medium will be high speed internet, three whose primary communications medium will be their household landline, and three who will use a cellphone. We predict that these adults will be able to independently and reliably access available telecom services, and that their competence, adaptability, and self- esteem will improve. Participants will be recruited from InvoTek's regional network of people with disabilities.