Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin An Investigation of the Assistive Technology Supports and Transition from a Third-Level Environment to

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

An Investigation of the Assistive Technology Supports and Transition from a Third-Level Environment to the Workplace

Andrew Costello Assistive Technology Officer Trinity College Dublin


Research Context – Need ?

My role as the Assistive Technology Officer for Trinity College Dublin is to introduce Assistive technology as an aid or to overcome a task of difficulty in a particular area

TCD Disability Student numbers


• Disabled users are 2.5 less likely to gain full employment to enables users , NDA, 2014

• 33% of people with disabilities of working age are employed, compared to 66% of nondisabled people, CS0, 2012

• However most disabled young people see work as vital to their life as it gives them status, independence and choice and allows them achieve “adult status” (McGinty & Fish, 1992)

Research Context – why ?


Research Context – why ?

The level of people with a disability working in employment is disproportionate compared to the able-bodied population

CSO ,2011

66%

33% 34%

43%

18% 17%23% 23%

32%

14%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%



• Via a 1:1 needs assessment each student in need of assistive technology is to ensure such support allows the student gain independence not just for their academic journey but for their working life

• This research aimed to investigate barriers in such transition and effectiveness of such supports from an academic phase to an educational phase and look at the development of exit assessment for students to undertake to build confidence in their assistive technology use after leaving a supported environment; such as college


Not as simple as just giving a loan:

• Lack of use of the WEAG grant the Workplace Equipment Adoption Grant out of a budget of €198,000 only €48,000 was distributed

• Lack of use of Universal design principles in every day IT systems – Bjork 2009

• The benefit of such an UD approach leads to improved quality of life and to the reduction of barriers to services and environments. – Joines, 2009

• Lack of expertise support – Tobias 2003

• Increased Organisational culture needed– Bryan 2007

Research Context – What did the Literature say ?


Assistive Technology assessment models :

• Matching person and technology (Scherer 2004)

• International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)


Assistive Technology assessment model:

HAAT - Human Activities Assistive Technology – Cook & Hussy

QUEST - Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction withAssistive Technology (Demers 2002 )


Present Employability Law & Implications

In Irish law, there are 4 statues:

• Disability Act 2005 - De Wispelaere and Walsh (2007) reiterate this view; the act is a missed opportunity in the construction of disability rights within Ireland

• Employment Equality Acts 1998-2011 - prohibiting discrimination on nine grounds – Buckley 2000 - the term “reasonable” is open to interpretation”

• Equal status Act 2000-2011 & Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005


• In my role of Assistive Technology Officer I had agreement from my Service to interview eight participants

• 4 current final year undergraduate students

• 4 graduates from TCD who have worked in full time employment

• All interviews took place within the library complex of The Ussher Library in Trinity College, Dublin. The location of the interviews chosen by each individual participant.

Research methodology


Participant Breakdown :


Qualitative Research / Life time history approach-

• Research aims to make a connection between the users’ events in the use of technology and activities in which the technology has been used. Hatch and Wisniewski (1995) state that the life history approach “places narrative accounts and interpretations in a broader context – personal, historical, social, institutional, and/or political”.

-


• Themes were identified using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is described by Braun and Clarke (2006) as: “Identifying, analysing and reporting patterns (themes) within data. It minimally organises and describes your data set in (rich) detail. However, frequently it goes further than this, and interprets various aspects of the research topic”.

• Analysis will outlined the use of a five pass process as outlined by Auerbach (2003).

• The themes will be coded using a variety of colour to allow ease of identification and examination of key patterns from each participant to form the results from this investigation

-


Research Themes analysis

• From and from the analysis of the text indefinable themes were extracted. These themes were extracted from patterns of responses to the semi structured interview process based on the HAAT model

• Organise Sub-themes by Grouping Repeating Ideas into Coherent Categories

Red = A Supportive Environment

Green = Assistive Technology Design &

Procurement

Purple = Independence and Ability

Sky Blue = Assessment of Need

Grey = Awareness of Irish Law


Results – 5 main Barriers to AT Transition

1. The need for support Environment

The Support topic highlighted benefits of expert assistive technology support available to the participants while in an educational environment, following this, in a work setting, a lack of expert support results in frustration that curtail the transition and satisfaction with assistive technology.

SF1: “I needed to be able to use the technology. The support I received in college was a huge factor in enabling my use; if something went wrong I could ring and get support. I learnt unless I did something really stupid I wasn't going to actually break it unless I dropped it”


- The comparison to the Working environment :

- GF3: “I'm only anxious in my working environment because I'm not sure what response I’m going to get, they generally do not know what I'm talking about”

- GM2: “you have to go through enormous hoops to persuade the IT department to allow you to install it. It worked perfectly at home, but in a work environment it is impossible.”


2. Assistive Technology Design and Procurement

All eight participant themes commented on the usability , high cost cost and use of low tech supports such as mobile apps in breaking down barriers in accessing information in an accessible format

GM2 comments: “I've always felt it would be much better if the technology I wanted to use would be more mainstream. In some ways it's become like the iPhone or the Apple laptop…you don't need to buy anything separate. The trouble with separate things is historically it's a bolt-on, it's an afterthought, it does not interface well.”

SF3: “Things should go is towards integration, where assistive technology features are inbuilt, this stops you from having a cumbersome device. I'd be more positive towards technology that is geared towards the mainstream, and ergonomically better”


2. Assistive Technology Design and Procurement

The use of open source software also breaks down barriers as it allows the user to adapt the software as required :

GM3 says: “At the moment I use NVDA, which I find is very good. It's free and open source. The fact that it is open source has been a great benefit, I was able to facilitate NVDA to display in Irish, so it's not just that it's free, but it's open source, so I can contribute to it as well and it benefits the system. That type of software has changed my views; you can actually influence it by working on it”


3. Ability and Perception

• These themes centred on the independence gained from engagement in such technology, Exclusion and perception factors that prohibit the disclosure of such need and how their non use of their AT creates barriers

• SF1 commented: “When I go further in whatever direction I go in technology is an essential part of my life. Technology is essential on a daily basis for me, I will always use it. I think asking for support enables me to become more independent and I have had to learn a lot”.


SM2: “My own perception would be a barrier, for example, embarrassment associated with the terminology. When it is dyslexia, people might dismiss it as being nothing. All of those issues were coming to play”.

GF3 said: “A lot of the time there are parts of my work that aren't accessible and the solution largely is that I would get one my teammates to do it. I said to them. "That's fine in the short term", but my personality, which is largely independent, and I don't like people doing stuff for me. Plus everybody else is doing their own work. I don't think that is fair to disrupt them because the setup is not correct”.


4. Assessment of Need

Results shows the advantages of such a formal process to set expectations and build supportive relationships for further training as needed. Results from graduated participants highlight the non-existence of a similar process in an employment environment and the barriers that occur as a result SM4 comments: “when I came to college I was definitely accurately accessed. I was sat down and was shown different machines and different PCs that could benefit me.”

GM2: “It puts the onus back on the individual, like myself, it's more a person without a disability does not have to do. But I felt I had to do it myself. It would honestly be far better if there was somebody in the organisation who would be proactively realising this third party application has an accessibility issue”


5. Legal Provisions

• The lack of awareness of these provisions by the younger participants strongly contrasted with a greater knowledge and use from the mature participants. The sentiment of a lack of enforcement and available loopholes were also noticeable.

• SM2: “I didn't really understand that if somebody is in employment then they should be reasonably accommodated. I didn't know it was enshrined into law. I would expect it would be. I have a vague understanding of it.”

• SF3: “I know the college access policy for sure. Irish law? No, not all, I know better equality and all that, that's all”


Additionally each student completed a modified Quest tool evaluating their satisfaction under two main areas service and the device

Results – Quest Quantitative


SF1 SM2 SF3 SM40

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

3.1

3.65 3.754

4.54.75 4.75 4.75

3.53.66

4.084.25

Quest Results - Students

Device satisfaction Support Satisfaction Overall



GM1 GM2 GF3 GF40

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

4.624.75

3.25

11

1.5

2.75

2.25

3.413.66

3.08

1.91

Quest Results - Graduates

Device satisfaction Support Satisfaction Overall



What was the output from the research ? - Development of the MEP

• From the result gained via the interview & quest assessment a draft Exit assessment for use by students looking to transition to a working environment was constructed

• MET assessment tool is designed to be a concise assessment allowing both the exiting student or current employee to highlight areas of concern for future use of assistive technology that may have been previously used within an educational environment

• The MET also aims to provide a potential link to external resources, which may be a government agency or educational disability service for expert help if needed by the employer.

• The MET highlights the potential use of open source software, either free or low cost, as an alternative, and to eliminate the barrier of cost.


Development of a Transition to Employment Support

• Building personal strategies

• Enabling and Building your Career

Transition Planning Tool

• Disclosure & RAs• Fit • Advice for Students & transition

to work • Enabling the Work Environment

Career Pathways Service &

Resources (Nolan & Gleeson, 2015)


1st draft of the of the MET:


Development of the MET:


Online –E-Portfolio integration

• Aims to support students in:

• Gathering work experiences

• Reflecting upon possible disability needs in the workplace.

• Exploring career options.

• Developing work relevant skills

• Developing strategies to manage their disability in the workplace.


Pebblepad


Pebblepad


Online –E-Portfolio integration

• Collaboration with other HEIs; UCD, DIT, DCU & Marino Institute of Education.

• 110 Current Students and 10 Graduates engaged this year so far


Development of the MET

Review of the MET by Technology Professionals

Dell Ireland – True-ability office

•“I think it would benefit us to raise awareness of what assistive technologies have been used before, it would save time and resources in going through assessments. It would be great at that time to have some history on the person, obviously it would be good to keep in touch with previous employers or support organisations that have looked after that person. This is why it is much easier to go through an employment process with a government agency like WAM because they have been looked after by them and they know there are issues”.


Development of the MET

Assistive technology officer- DCU –Henry Langton

“It's not that the employers, say “I have an employee with a disability”. It's “How can I support this user?”, it's not a case of fear , it a case have not been able to provide accommodations for that reason, some employers are reluctant to hire staff with disabilities because they feel that they do not have the appropriate skills”.


Future Work:

• To get further feedback on the effectiveness of the Matching Employees with technology (MET); a future roll-out and piloting within an existing employment area could be looked at. This further work could engage fully with the respective management structures and view current existing employment policy along with any potential employee requesting or presently using assistive technology accommodations.

• Future work coming from this investigation would be an extended pilot involving a greater cohort of students across separate higher education institutions. Increasing the use of the MET amongst a greater cohort of current education students would increase validity of the study and allow for a greater integration of the MET amongst a wide range of disability cohorts.


Questions ?

Documents

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin An Investigation of the Assistive Technology Supports and Transition from a Third-Level Environment to