THE SMITH-KETTLEWELL REHABILITATION ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER FOR SENSORY AIDS: AN OVERVIEWThe Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) develops sensory aids which either enhance the use of residual vision or substitute auditory and/or tactile information for missing visual input. Our target population is the blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind. We also act as a national information resource on sensory aids technology. Many of the results of RERC activities are documented elsewhere in this compendium; the present section gives a brief overview of our research and development activities. To enhance the employability of blind individuals, we have developed many job-related instruments with auditory and tactile output, including computerized job instrumentation systems and speech modules for adapting measuring instruments. Other examples include low-cost, simple-to-use computer access systems and auditory instruments to facilitate interconnection of computers and peripherals by blind operators. Our present focus in this topic area is on access to visual displays and products found in the workplace as well as at home and in the community. Research projects affecting independence in daily living include studies on new approaches to providing audio descriptions of television and movies. We also participate in research and development activities on access to the Internet and access to public terminals such as ATMs and information kiosks. Another area of research and development is orientation and mobility for the blind. Our Talking Signs project provides a means for the blind pedestrian to locate and read "signs" from a distance using inexpensive infrared transmitters placed at sign locations. This system holds the promise of revolutionizing wayfinding and accessibility in public areas and facilities, as well as other unfamiliar areas. We are also working on other aspects of orientation and mobility such as new approaches to maps and map reading. Our series of motivating educational devices for blind and deaf-blind children includes the Tact Tell learning system utilizing interactive modular peripherals which can be connected to a computer and speech synthesizer. Our interactive formboards designed to improve the child's skill with geometrical shapes through the use of auditory and tactile feedback. To improve communication for the deaf-blind, we are refining a robotic hand system (known as "Dexter") capable of performing manual fingerspelling -- facilitating telephone communication, face-to-face communication, or computer access. For persons with low vision, we are exploring various new magnifying and illumination systems, both optical and electronic. In addition, new techniques for improved vision assessment (using tests which relate more closely to the perceived real-world visual problems of the elderly and visually impaired) are being developed and tested.
THE SMITH-KETTLEWELL REHABILITATION ENGINEERING SERVICE FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIREDThe Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center has had long experience in specialized design and modification of sensory aids for the blind. This research and development expertise is now being made available for rehabilitation engineering services. The SKERI Rehabilitation Engineering Service is available for the provision of the following services:
All of the above services are now available on a fee-for-service basis to rehabilitation agencies and clients throughout the country. For further information contact the RERC labs.
THE SMITH-KETTLEWELL TECHNICAL FILEThe Smith-Kettlewell Technical File is a technical magazine for the blind, published in braille, cassette and floppy disk formats. It contains articles on electronics and sensory aids for the do-it-yourself blind individual, including soldering, circuit construction, electronic principles, accessibility solutions, and many other topics. The Technical File is the only technical magazine specifically directed at blind individuals. Access to such information is normally very difficult for the blind, and this publication fills a need for practical, hands-on information specifically adapted for blind professionals and hobbyists. Edited by William Gerrey, who is himself blind, it is a true instrument of "empowerment" for the blind individual. It is also a channel of direct communication between blind consumers and our RERC research and development program, resulting in many new ideas and sharing of information on devices and technology. Subscribership is approximately 200 blind individuals from the United States and many overseas countries. Several international subscribers produce versions of the complete magazine or portions thereof in their own languages such as Japanese, Russian and Spanish, reaching additional consumers indirectly. According to our estimates based on subscriber surveys, readers have constructed over 500 RERC-developed sensory aids using our designs and fabrication instructions published in the magazine. In addition, at least one subscriber, in India, has started a business based on the manufacture and sale of the devices for the blind published in the Technical File. For subscription information and a free sample copy in the format of your choice, call the RERC office.
THE SMITH-KETTLEWELL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR ELECTRONICS ASSEMBLYTo develop and evaluate techniques for assembling and soldering electronic state-of-the-art components (namely, integrated circuits) with which blind workers and hobbyists can enjoy participation in the field of electronics. Also, to develop a curriculum that can be taken out of our laboratories and used as a teaching tool -- perhaps a supplemental activity -- in other venues. In 1980, responding to a request to help a student in an electronics training program at Goodwill Industries in San Jose, California, blind staff at the RERC tutored a student in the art of using verbal circuit descriptions and primitive techniques of soldering. Over the next decade, blind students and rehabilitation workers were accepted in an experimental program at Smith-Kettlewell to refine training methods, evaluate inventions and techniques, and test a curriculum of activities. Results are as follows:
The modular nature of the curriculum lends itself to tailoring it for special needs. Many trainees in our program chose to build only one or two of the instruments -- those appropriate for tracing wires and signals, for example. Hobby and vocational needs were served in those cases. Other trainees chose to build only the continuity tester, which could serve them in making household repairs. Others, observing the methods, constructed other projects -- a modified soldering iron or a power supply, for example. Self-evaluation was all our laboratory staff was equipped to accommodate. Several trainees decided that electronics work was not to their liking; two others used their experience to shape their careers in mechanically oriented fields -- machining and auto repair. Exportation of the program took place on all levels. Most often, former trainees would teach a few of the methods to friends. An ongoing outgrowth is a weekly class taught by a blind resource teacher (working with high-school-aged blind students) in Bombay, India. Here, too, adjustments in the curriculum were easily made to accommodate local availability of materials and the interest level of each student. Availability "From Paper to Project," the five-part series of construction articles describing the six auditory test instruments, is available on both IBM diskette and audio cassette. Pertinent supplemental articles, namely "Soldering," Parts I, II, and III, are in the first three issues of the Smith-Kettlewell Technical File, (Fall 1980 and Winter and Spring 1981), and are also available on both IBM diskette and audio cassette. Audio cassettes are recorded at Library of Congress speed. While our laboratories are unable to run the full program, as we did for its development, the RERC at Smith-Kettlewell is ready and willing to help in the following ways:
THE SMITH-KETTLEWELL "KIDSTART" LAB COURSE IN ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISMThis "KidStart" lab course is designed to give young blind students a hands-on introduction to electricity and electronics, while exposing their sighted classmates to both electrical and braille concepts. In the Resource Room of Lawton Alternative Elementary School in San Francisco, two series of "lab sessions" were held involving blind students and their friends, ranging from 10 to 13 years of age. Class notes which set forth the key principles were given to the students at each session. Upon conclusion of the second session, an instructor's manual was written to summarize the activities. Lists of tools and materials, as well as details of each session's activity, are documented. Inexpensive and commonly available hardware items were favored in the creation of the KidStart Course. Activities included:
Blind youngsters are not often encouraged to handle tools, to examine hardware components, and to dissect (in a destructive manner) common items such as toy motors, doorbells and -- if donations are sought -- telephones. Soon into the project, it became obvious that the manipulation of woodscrews and handling of tools was as important to some as the principles being demonstrated. It is hoped that its documentation might serve as a springboard from which educators or volunteer adults familiar with tools and household materials can enrich the blind youngster's experience. Availability Documentation of the 1988 course is available in print. Subsequent investigation has shown that Radio Shack components of the course have been discontinued. An updated version of the "KidStart Course" has been published in the Smith-Kettlewell Technical File, Volume 14, No. 2. An illustrated version of the documentation will follow as updated photos of the student projects are taken.
REFERENCE BOOKSResearch conducted at the Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center has resulted in a number of successful reference books and other publications which assist the rehabilitation of the visually impaired at a practical level. Recent examples include: The Encyclopedia of Blindness and Visual Impairment, by Jill Sardegna and T. Otis Paul, M.D.; Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1991. This publication is directed at the visually impaired consumer as well as the eye care and rehabilitation professional, and de-mystifies the many complex medical and technical issues relating to visual impairment and its rehabilitation. Assessment of Vision and Hearing of Deaf-Blind Persons, by Lea Hyvarinen, M.D., and Lindsay Gimble; Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind, Melbourne, 1990. This publication is a guide for vision and hearing clinicians on the special techniques required in examining deaf-blind patients. It includes practical advice on how to improve communication directly with the patient and through the interpreter regarding the sensory tests and responses, as well as much other specialized information necessary for successful assessment of this population. The text arose from a research project on this topic conducted at the Smith-Kettlewell RERC. Wiley Encyclopedia of Medical Devices and Instrumentation, J. Webster, Ed; (chapter) "Assistive Devices for the Blind and Visually Impaired," by John Brabyn, Ph.D.; John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1988. This encyclopedia is a ready reference for all medical and related professionals. The chapter on devices for the visually impaired covers the panorama of available technology in this field. |
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