The Internet has become an essential part of everyday life and plays a central role in accomplishing various tasks. Despite existing guidelines and laws on digital accessibility, people with disabilities repeatedly encounter barriers on the Internet that make it difficult for them to use. This work examines the importance of accessible websites and aims to compare the normative guidelines of digital accessibility with the real-world experiences of users with cognitive impairments. To explore how specific aspects of digital accessibility affect the user-friendliness of websites for people with cognitive impairments, we conducted a qualitative study. Twelve semi-structured interviews were carried out to examine the target group’s response to three websites that differed in their level of digital accessibility. Three aspects of digital accessibility were examined in more detail: a) easy-to-read language, b) consistent navigation, and c) pause, stop, and hide. The results show that easy-to-read language and clear navigation significantly improve user-friendliness, while moving content has no negative influence. The study results make it clear that there is a lack of understanding of how people with disabilities perceive digital accessibility. The findings of this study can help promote the development of further guidelines for designing accessible websites and enable the digital participation of all users.
Universal design seeks to develop environments that are accessible to all users, fostering inclusivity and equal opportunity for everyone. Therefore, effective building regulations are essential to support and advance universal design in developing the built environment. This study examined accessibility provisions of Nigeria’s National Building Code (2006), which is an extensive document that provides set standards for how buildings should be designed, constructed and maintained in Nigeria. The National Building Code was examined to identify gaps hindering inclusivity in the built environment, thereby determining their adequacy in promoting universal design practices, towards enabling individuals to participate in society without physical barriers. The study is a review article that employed qualitative research methods to gather, analyse, and present data. A systematic textual analysis was conducted using secondary sources, including the NBC (2006), the 7 Principles of Universal Design, and key accessible design standards. The data were grouped into themes, and the content was analysed. A descriptive approach and thematic categories were employed to explain the findings. To achieve its findings, the study used two objectives, it examined the existing accessibility provisions of the National Building Code in relations to the requirements of Universal Design Principles and used the provisions found to determine the adequacy of the Code in promoting universal design practices in the development of the built environment. The findings revealed that although the Code contained some relevant accessibility provisions, several of them were vague, lacked detailed specifications or dimensions needed to ensure inclusivity. The study submitted that in its current state, the National Building Code (2006) operational in Nigeria is inadequate in promoting the ideals of universal design. The study recommends a detailed systematic revision of the code to address the identified shortcomings relating to accessibility.
La rápida evolución de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) plantea oportunidades y desafíos significativos para colectivos históricamente discriminados, como las personas con discapacidad intelectual. Este artículo propone un marco conceptual que permite abordar el diseño de sistemas de IA generativa desde una perspectiva inclusiva y accesible. A partir de una revisión exhaustiva de fuentes legislativas, sociosanitarias y tecnológicas, se definen y relacionan conceptos clave como discapacidad, accesibilidad y usabilidad, profundizando en la discapacidad intelectual como objetivo central de este trabajo. Se destaca la necesidad de aplicar principios del Diseño Universal (DU) y del Diseño Centrado en el Usuario (DCU) para garantizar productos, entornos y servicios comprensibles, utilizables y personalizables. Finalmente, se identifican retos específicos en el desarrollo de herramientas de IA generativa en español dirigidas a personas con discapacidad intelectual y se proponen recomendaciones concretas para promover una IA verdaderamente inclusiva.24 p.
The purpose of this research is to install a handrail on the sliding doors used in hospitals and nursing facilities to support seniors and people with disabilities to walk by themselves. The semi-automatic lifting equipment is utilized for the retractable handrail to make sure people in bad health are able to open the door using a weak force. To design the handrail for this purpose, the theoretical formula for opening force is derived. Then the simulation is performed with varying geometry conditions confirming the results are in good agreement with the experiment results. The opening force is designed to be less than the target value previously reported. The sliding door developed in this study is useful for elderly people walking by themselves safely.
Empirical studies on health care utilization by people with disabilities are rare in South Korea. There exist even fewer studies that examine health care utilization by people with intellectual disabilities and that compare the health care utilization pattern by this population vs by population with other types of disabilities. This study investigates the characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities (vs those with non-intellectual disabilities) and evaluates the relationship between the presence/absence of intellectual disabilities and health care utilization. The present study analyzed the 2005 and 2016 Korea Welfare Panel Study data. The final sample included observations from these two years that span over the ten-year period. Health care utilization was operationalized by whether the people with disabilities (intellectual and non-intellectual) participated in health screening, how often they received outpatient physician visits, and how long they received inpatients service. To examine the effect of the types of disabilities on health care utilization, random-effects logistic regression and negative binomial regression models were employed. The present study found that people with intellectual disability showed a much lower attendance rate than both people with non-intellectual disabilities and people without disabilities. The percentage of those who received outpatient service experience was higher for people with non-intellectual disabilities than for people with intellectual disabilities. The mean annual number of outpatient visits was greater for people with non-intellectual disabilities than for people with intellectual disabilities. People with intellectual disabilities also showed a lower rate of inpatient experience compared to those with non-intellectual disabilities. Based on these results, it is suggested that policy-makers should promote fuller access to the use of health care services for people with intellectual disability. In addition, more efforts should be made for people with intellectual disabilities to participate in medical research so that they can express their demands on health-related issues.
