FW-HTF-P: Building Research Capacity by Technological Interventions in Support of Mixed-Ability Workplaces

Indiana University, Bloomington IN

Investigators

Abstract

People with cognitive and physical disabilities encounter significant difficulties when entering the workforce and consistently report lower employment and pay than people without disabilities. Even after securing employment, people with disabilities often face misunderstandings or negative attitudes from their coworkers. This impacts their ability to be productive and to learn the skills required for their profession. This project is situated in mixed-ability workplaces (i.e., settings in which workers without disabilities and workers with different types of disabilities collaborate). The researchers will explore challenges that emerge during training sessions and everyday work. They will then investigate how theories that connect cognition with physical action can be used to design novel technologies that augment the level of accessibility of mixed-ability workplaces and the success of all workers. The goal of this planning project is to build research capacity for generating fundamental, convergent research in support of mixed-ability workplaces and ultimately to boost the diversity of the U.S. workforce. The project has three major thrusts. First, the researchers will partner with a library that supports a mixed-ability workplace in order to conduct exploratory, qualitative research aimed at understanding how people with disabilities can be integrated into the workforce. Second, the researchers will partner with Brain Injury and Technology Education Support in Indianapolis, IN, a group that supports people with physical and cognitive disabilities. Together they will organize a participatory design workshop in which people with and without disabilities will collaborate in designing novel technologies for mixed-ability workplaces. Third, the investigators will lay the groundwork for a network of community partners and professional organizations that will assist in piloting and evaluating new assistive technologies, create a community of practitioners, and inform current work practices. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop the necessary research personnel, research infrastructure, and foundational work to expand the opportunities for studying future technology, future workers, and future work at the level of a FW-HTF full research proposal. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.