2007 PhD Thesis Final Revised.pdf - Curtin University

seen as applicable to the development of commercial products, such as travel aids
for blind and vision impaired people ("Ultrasonic Sound Information", 2005). The
implementation of electronics in mobility devices relied on the possibility that if
electronic signal-based technology could detect objects underwater, the same
technology could be used by blind people to detect objects when walking. As a result
of this train of thought, based largely on the dominant medical model-based social
category, the adaptation of existing electronic technologies was used to benefit
people with vision disabilities. This development provided great enthusiasm in the
hope that technologies originally designed for destruction could result in potentially
beneficial products (Hollier, 2004).
The creation of electronic-based devices to assist people with disabilities
became known as assistive technology or adaptive technology. Assistive technology
is designed to temporarily modify a product into an accessible format, while adaptive
technology is designed to permanently change a product to ensure accessibility
(Australian National Training Authority, 2005). The shorthand term AT is generally
used to describe either assistive or adaptive technologies, with ‘assist’ being defined
as “to give support, to aid, to help” (Bryant & Bryant, 2003, p2). AT, then, is the
method by which the practical implementation of technology helps and supports
people. The development of AT can be separated into two parts: innovation-based
products in which products are created specifically for people with disabilities; and
adaptation-based products which involve making existing products accessible for
people with disabilities (Kumar, Rahman, & Krovi, 2005). Although the ultrasonic
technology used to create a new mobility aid is based on existing technology, it is not
designed to make a mainstream device accessible to people with disabilities and is
therefore classified as an innovation-based device.
The main goal for an AT product is transparency. If a product can be used
effectively without training, then it is deemed to be a successful AT product (King,
1999). The use of ultrasonic signals in a mobility aid was believed to have the
potential of becoming an effectively transparent product and so commenced the
development of many types of Electronic Travel Aids (ETAs). The development of
ETAs through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s was significant in that ETAs were the one
of the first groups of electronic devices developed for people with vision disabilities.
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