Assistive Technology and Information Technology Use and Need by Persons With Disabilities in the United States, 2001

摘要

The 2001 Survey of Assistive Technology and Information Technology Use and Need by Persons With Disabilities in the United States (AT Survey), was conducted over a nine-month period from March through December 2001. Each respondent was screened in as a person with a disability based on a screening instrument developed by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), and the Survey Research Center (SRC) in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The screener used questions from the 2000 U. S. Census and the National Health Interview Survey. Respondents were asked about personal characteristics, including disability status, followed by questions about assistive technology (AT) and information technology (IT) use and need in the home, at school, at work, and in the community. Attitudes and opinions about the availability and usefulness of AT (devices, technologies and services) were explored, as well as other factors believed to affect AT use and need, such as the severity of the impairment and the need for personal assistance services.