Research on assistive technologies is undergoing many developments in its effectiveness in helping those with varying impairments. New technologies are constantly being created, researched, and implemented for those who need these technological aides in daily life. Assistive Technologies for Physical and Cognitive Disabilities combines worldwide cases on people with physical and cognitive disabilities with the latest applications in assistive technologies. This reference work brings different researchers together under one title to discuss current findings, developments, and ongoing research in the area of rehabilitative technology. This reference book is of critical use to professionals, researchers, healthcare practitioners, caretakers, academicians, and students.

Based on more than 60 personal interviews and supported by scholarly research, this book shows the varied attitudes and approaches that make up the rich experience of living with disability in a changing society. Covering Down syndrome from conception to old age, this historical analysis touches upon a variety of themes, including education, friendship, health, recreation, sexuality, employment, and independence. This moving, partly autobiographical account is a must read for all parents, teachers, health professionals, and policy makers who make choices that affect people with disabilities.

This book provides an insight into recent technological trends and innovations in solutions and platforms to improve mobility of visually impaired people. The authors' goal is to help to contribute to the social and societal inclusion of the visually impaired. The book's topics include, but are not limited to, obstacle detection systems, indoor and outdoor navigation, transportation sustainability systems, and hardware/devices to aid visually impaired people. The book has a strong focus on practical applications tested in a real environment. Applications include city halls, municipalities, and companies that must keep up to date with recent trends in platforms, methodologies and technologies to promote urban mobility. Also discuss are broader realms including education, health, electronics, tourism, and transportation. Contributors include a variety of researchers and practitioners around the world.

What do you do when you wake up in your mid-forties and realize you've been living a lie your whole life? Do you tell? Or do you keep it to yourself?

Laura James found out that she was autistic as an adult, after she had forged a career for herself, married twice and raised four children. This book tracks the year of Laura's life after she receives a definitive diagnosis from her doctor, as she learns that 'different' doesn't need to mean 'less' and how there is a place for all of us, and it's never too late to find it.

Laura draws on her professional and personal experiences and reflects on her life in the light of her diagnosis, which for her explains some of her differences; why, as a child, she felt happier spinning in circles than standing still and why she has always found it difficult to work in places with a lot of ambient noise.

Although this is a personal story, the book has a wider focus too, exploring reasons for the lower rate of diagnosed autism in women and a wide range of topics including eating disorders and autism, marriage and motherhood.

Odd Girl Out gives a timely account from a woman negotiating the autistic spectrum, from a poignant and personal perspective.

This elegantly written book offers an unexpected and unprecedented account of blindness and sight. Legally blind since the age of eleven, Georgina Kleege draws on her experiences to offer a detailed testimony of visual, impairment -- both her own view of the world and the worlds view of the blind. "I hope to turn the reader's gaze outward, to say, not only Heres what I see but also 'Here's what you see, to show both what's unique and what's universal", Kleege writes.

Kleege describes the negative social status of the blind, analyzes stereotypes of the blind that have been perpetuated by movies, and discusses how blindness has been portrayed in literature. She vividly conveys the visual experience of someone with severely impaired sight and explains what she can see and what she cannot (and how her inability to achieve eye contact -- in a society that prizes that form of connection -- has affected her). Finally she tells of the various ways she reads, and the freedom she felt when she stopped concealing her blindness and acquired skills, such as reading braille, as part of a new, blind identity. Without sentimentality or cliches, Kleege offers us the opportunity to imagine life without sight.

The demanding workload and fast pace of college often overwhelm students. Without access to the right resources, many of the three million U.S. college students with disabilities fail or drop out--at a much higher rate than their peers. This guide helps students, parents, counselors and psychologists find the appropriate resources and accommodations to help students with disabilities successfully transition to college. The author explains Americans with Diabilities Act laws for higher education and outlines the steps for requesting and implementing college staff, classroom and testing accommodations. Student testimonies are included, advising on which assistive technologies and resources have worked to achieve academic success.

Wanneer horende ouers besef hulle kind is doof, veroorsaak dit 'n emosionele skok en trane en met verloop van tyd baie vrae. Baie vrae word onbeantwoord gelaat weens onkunde en omdat daar geen behoorlike ouerleiding is uit die dowe mense se oogpunt, wat horende ouers help om 'n dowe of 'n hardhorende kind in Suid-Afrika op te voed nie. Die eerste vraag wat die horende ouers gewoonlik vra, is: "Hoe kommunikeer ons met ons dowe of hardhorende kind?"

Dreams of pregnancy include the expectation that nine months of waiting will end with a joyous event. But, each year, a "shattered dream" occurs for thousands of couples who receive the news that their child will have a disabling condition severe enough that they may question if they are the best parents for their child. Societal expectation is that parents will raise their child or, if the condition of the child is detected prenatally, abortion is offered as an alternative. Parents who explore other options face scrutiny and, sometimes, condemnation--"lonely choices." Joanne Finnegan shares her personal experience and that of several families she interviewed who, like herself, explored options other than raising their child with a disability. Parents express with candor the overwhelming pain they felt when receiving "the news," the frustration when searching for options, the "no-win" feeling of decision making, the resolve with a final decision, and finally, life after the decision. Parent quotes also address issues such as spiritual dilemmas and interactions with friends, family, their other children, and medical professionals. Words of advice for new parents include how to build support systems and gather information, how to search for an adoptive family, and arranging the details of communication between adoptive and birth parents. Interviews with adoptive parents, poetry, and extensive resource lists complete the book. Written as a gift for other parents to help them cope with the pain and loneliness of decision making, this book will also be a valuable resource for medical professionals, adoption and social workers, counselors and spiritual advisors, and friends and family of theparents. It is a helpful as well as a deeply therapeutic book, providing a strong lesson in how to manage during this stressful time, from receiving "the news" about the baby's condition and prognosis, to weighing the factors involved in the various decisions. Should one take the baby home from the hospital? If not home, then where? Foster care, respite care, guardianship, and other forms of substitute care are mentioned. The author also examines decisions about finances and support services, family issues, finalizing an adoption plan, living with the decision, regrets, and future pregnancies.

Cataract Solutions: Prevention & Reversal Via Accelerated Self-Healing is a comprehensive guide to the science and art of healing cataracts naturally, using nutrition, herbs, homeopathy and light therapy. This book has been useful to support successful self-healing, as well as being a useful reference guide for caregivers, healers and holistic physicians. Dr. Swartwout shares three decades of accumulated knowledge, having helped hundreds of people avoid the most common surgery in Medicare. The best news is that when you improve your eye health naturally, not only is vision restored, but years and quality are added to your life. Modern surgery is wonderful, but it does not remove the underlying causes of cataract, which continue to affect the whole body. That is why the average life expectancy after cataract surgery is a mere 5 years. This is not generally thought about or talked about because the focus of our modern medical industry is on heroic intervention, with precious little time spent educating patients about health maintenance and primary disease prevention.