Abstract

HERNANDEZ-SUAREZ, Cesar A  and  JIMENEZ-HERNANDEZ, Luis A. Technological development for improving long-distance communication between handicapped people. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2009, vol.11, n.5, pp.828-835. ISSN 0124-0064.

Objective Providing the general public, especially people suffering from disabilities, with a communication device promoting appropriate communication skills by using a smart, adaptive encoding/decoding system having accessible interfaces as a mechanism of social inclusion, thereby providing suitable opportunities for meeting some basic human needs. Methods The research was based on three stages, each preceding the next. It began with an exploratory stage which sought to determine the state of the art regarding research. It was followed by a descriptive one which sought to further the technology developed or applied to the social inclusion of handicapped people. The last stage was quasi-experimental which developed a technological product which was validating with people having different disabilities, the necessary adjustments and adaptations then being made. Results This project's main result lay in creating a communication device which increased the development of communication skills in people suffering from motor disabilities or who were blind, postlingually deaf and postlingually deaf-blind and/or any other person without disability (the latter group having a device designed and constructed during this investigation). Conclusions A technological device called the SCDA prototype was designed, implemented and validated; it was based on electronic functions allowing the user to develop some basic human needs, based on every human being's inherent right to communicate, regardless of their physical, mental or economic condition.

Keywords : Communication aids for the disabled; electronics; handicapped people.

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