M Yamagami, K Mack, JC Mankoff, KM Steele (2022) “’I’m Just Overwhelmed’: Investigating Physical Therapy Accessibility and Technology Interventions for People with Disabilities and/or Chronic Conditions”

Journal Article in ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

Many individuals with disabilities and/or chronic conditions (da/cc) experience symptoms that may require intermittent or on-going medical care. However, healthcare is an often-overlooked domain for accessibility work, where access needs associated with temporary and long-term disability must be addressed to increase the utility of physical and digital interactions with healthcare workers and spaces.

Table 2. Summary of Participant-suggested Features to Include when Developing Technology to Support At-home PT and Access Barriers that Are Addressed with the FeaturesAim: Our work focuses on a specific domain of healthcare often used by individuals with da/cc: physical therapy (PT).

Methods: Through a 12-person interview study, we examined how people’s access to PT for their da/cc is hampered by social (e.g., physically visiting a PT clinic) and physiological (e.g., chronic pain) barriers, and how technology could improve PT access.

Results: In-person PT is often inaccessible to our participants due to lack of transportation and insufficient insurance coverage. As such, many of our participants relied on at-home PT to manage their da/cc symptoms and work towards PT goals. Participants felt that PT barriers, such as having particularly bad symptoms or feeling short on time, could be addressed with well-designed technology that flexibly adapts to the person’s dynamically changing needs while supporting their PT goals.

Interpretation: We introduce core design principles (adaptability, movement tracking, community building) and tensions (insurance) to consider when developing technology to support PT access. Rethinking da/cc access to PT from a lens that includes social and physiological barriers presents opportunities to integrate accessibility and adaptability into PT technology.

Kat Steele on BOOM talking mobility, accessibility, and design

Left red and black logo for Boom with smiling female in purple shirt on right

BOOM! Kat Steele was recently a guest speaker on the fantastic podcast BOOM: Biomechanics On Our Minds hosted by Melissa Boswell and Hannah O’Day. Kat joined BOOM for their first episode of a four-part series discussing mobility, accessibility, and design.

Definitely give this episode a listen on SoundCloudSpotify, or Apple Podcast, and follow along with the rest of the four-part series and all great BOOM content on the same podcast services.

boom. Boom. BOOM!

NSF Convergence Accelerator | Inclusion in the Workplace

The NSF Convergence Accelerator on Accelerating Disability Inclusion in Workplaces through Technology starts on May 20th.


Title slide of Dr. Steele's talk "Ideas for Inclusion" on a purple background.

 

The goals for this workshop are to identify pathways for technology to solve or mitigate accessibility and inclusion challenges in current and emerging workplaces. As an NSF Convergence Accelerator, participants will seek to identify pathways that could be  pursued by multidisciplinary teams to get solutions at least to a prototype stage in 3-5 years. The long-term goals from this workshop are to set in motion paradigm shifts that brings the percentage of individuals with disabilities participating in the workforce closer to the general population.

Dr. Steele will be presenting some ideas on inclusion in the workplace – from work environments to transportation to workforce development.

Slides

Download PDF of slides.

Email Dr. Steele (kmsteele – at – uw – dot – edu) with questions, comments, or suggestions.

Kat Steele named a 2020 DO‑IT Trailblazer

Picture of Kat in purple shirt.We are proud to announce that Dr. Katherine M. Steele was selected as one of the 2020 DO-IT Trailblazers for her fantastic work in access engineering. Kat has been active in DO-IT, hosting activities where students learn about makerspace accessibility, engineering principles, and universal design. She has also developed resources and published articles with DO-IT staff on topics related to makerspace accessibility and teaching about accessibility in engineering. Please help us in congratulating Kat!

Microsoft has paired with UW to CREATE!

Purple background with white stick figure holding light bulbDuring Microsoft’s annual Ability Summit, they announced a new partnership with the University of Washington to establish the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology (CREATE) and kicked-off the collaboration with an inaugural investment of  $2.5 million. CREATE is an interdisciplinary team whose mission is to make technology, and the world, more accessible.

The CREATE leadership will be comprised of six campus departments and three different colleges including the Steele lab’s own Heather Feldner and Katherine M. Steele. This fantastic news was featured on The Seattle Times and Greek Wire.

Get excited and help us congratulate Heather, Kat, and all those involved and cheer them on to CREATE!