[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 164 (Thursday, August 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-20971]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 25, 1994]
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Part VII
Department of Education
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National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Notice
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of Proposed Funding Priorities for Fiscal Years 1995-
1996 for Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes funding priorities for new
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) under the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for fiscal
years 1995-1996. The Secretary takes this action to focus research
attention on areas of national need. These priorities are intended to
improve rehabilitation services and outcomes for individuals with
disabilities.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 26, 1994.
ADDRESSES: All comments concerning these proposed priorities should be
addressed to David Esquith, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue, S.W., Switzer Building, Room 3424, Washington, D.C. 20202-2601.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Esquith. Telephone: (202) 205-
8801. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the TDD number at (202) 205-5516.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice contains three proposed
priorities under the RERC program for research on children with
orthopedic impairments, research on low vision and blindness, and
research on universal telecommunications access.
Authority for the RERC program of NIDRR is contained in section
204(b)(3) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 760-
762). Under this program the Secretary makes awards to public and
private agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher
education, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations, to conduct
research, demonstration, and training activities regarding
rehabilitation technology in order to enhance opportunities for meeting
the needs of, and addressing the barriers confronted by, individuals
with disabilities in all aspects of their lives. An RERC must be
operated by or in collaboration with an institution of higher education
or a nonprofit organization.
These proposed priorities support the National Education Goals that
call for all children in America to start school ready to learn and for
every adult American to possess the skills necessary to compete in a
global economy.
Under the regulations for this program (see 34 CFR 353.32) the
Secretary may establish research priorities by reserving funds to
support particular research activities.
The Secretary will announce the final priorities in a notice in the
Federal Register. The final priorities will be determined by responses
to this notice, available funds, and other considerations of the
Department. Funding of a particular project depends on the final
priorities, the availability of funds, and the quality of the
applications received. The publication of these proposed priorities
does not preclude the Secretary from proposing additional priorities,
nor does it limit the Secretary to funding only these priorities,
subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.
Note: This notice of proposed priorities does not solicit
applications. A notice inviting applications under this competition
will be published in the Federal Register concurrent with or
following the notice of final priorities.
Description of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center Program
RERCs carry out research or demonstration activities by: (1)
Developing and disseminating innovative methods of applying advanced
technology, scientific achievement, and psychological and social
knowledge to (a) solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental
barriers, and (b) study new or emerging technologies, products, or
environments; (2) demonstrating and disseminating (a) innovative models
for the delivery of cost-effective rehabilitation technology services
to rural and urban areas, and (b) other scientific research to assist
in meeting the employment and independent living needs of individuals
with severe disabilities; or (3) facilitating service delivery systems
change through (a) the development, evaluation, and dissemination of
consumer-responsive and individual and family centered innovative
models for the delivery to both rural and urban areas of innovative
cost-effective rehabilitation technology services, and (b) other
scientific research to assist in meeting the employment and independent
needs of individuals with severe disabilities.
The statute requires that each applicant for a grant, including an
RERC, demonstrate how its proposed activities address the needs of
individuals from minority backgrounds who have disabilities. Each RERC
must provide training opportunities to individuals, including
individuals with disabilities, to become researchers of rehabilitation
technology and practitioners of rehabilitation technology in
conjunction with institutions of higher education and nonprofit
organizations.
General
The Secretary proposes that the following requirements apply to the
RERCs pursuant to these absolute priorities unless noted otherwise:
The RERC (except the RERC on universal telecommunications access)
must have the capability to design, build, and test prototype devices
and assist in the transfer of successful solutions to the marketplace.
The RERC must evaluate the efficacy and safety of its new products,
instrumentation, or assistive devices.
The RERC must provide graduate-level research training to build
capacity for engineering research in the rehabilitation field and to
provide training in the applications of new technology to service
providers and to individuals with disabilities and their families.
The RERC must develop all training materials in formats that will
be accessible to individuals with various types of disabilities and
communication modes, and widely disseminate findings and products to
individuals with disabilities and their families and representatives,
service providers, manufacturers and distributors, and other
appropriate target populations.
The RERC must involve individuals with disabilities, persons from
minority backgrounds with disabilities and, if appropriate, their
family members in planning and implementing the research, development,
and training programs, in interpreting and disseminating the research
findings, and in evaluating the Center.
The RERC must share information and data, and, as appropriate,
collaborate on research and training with other NIDRR-supported
grantees including, but not limited to, the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers and
other related RERCs and RRTCs. The RERC must work closely with the RERC
on Technology Evaluation and Transfer at the State University of New
York at Buffalo.
Priority
Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) the Secretary proposes to give an
absolute preference to applications that meet the following priorities.
The Secretary proposes to fund under this competition only applications
that meet these absolute priorities.
Proposed Priority 1: Technology for Children With Orthopedic
Disabilities
Background
Children who sustain traumatic injury, congenital anomalies or
disease-induced anomalies may require prosthetic devices for missing
limbs and orthotic devices for support and correction. Because children
are growing rapidly, their prosthetic and orthotic devices must be
designed to satisfy their special developmental needs. Too often,
children's devices are scaled-down versions of adult devices.
New composite materials such as graphite, carbon fiber/carbon
matrix, and fiber-reinforced ceramics have much to offer in prosthetic
and orthotic design and practice because they are lightweight and
durable. These factors are especially important for young children.
However, composite materials require different manufacturing techniques
than those used to form metals. The special configurations of these
devices require special construction methods to produce devices that
are safe and effective and competitively priced. In addition, most
composite materials are hard to re-shape once they are made. This
interferes with the fitting of devices that need to be adjusted for
each child. Techniques for adjusting the shape of composite material
devices need to be developed.
The neuromuscular and musculoskeletal development of growing
children presents a significant challenge to those practitioners who
provide children with prosthetic and orthotic devices. The devices must
meet the prevailing needs of the child as well as adjust to the child's
physical growth for a reasonably long period of time.
Most orthotic/prosthetic facilities have difficulty meeting these
challenges. This is compounded by the fact that children who need these
services are not evenly distributed throughout the country, and there
are few service providers in some geographic areas. In addition, some
practitioners and parents have limited access to a variety of devices.
As a result, they are not in a position to sample a number of devices
and select the one that is most appropriate. For example, the electric
hand often appeals to a parent because it looks and acts like a real
hand. An experimental fitting and practical comparison may persuade
parents and child that benefits of hook design outweigh the cosmetic
appeal of the electric hand. Inexpensive opportunities to try out
various prostheses need to be increased.
Proposed Priority
An RERC on technology and children with orthopedic disabilities
shall--
Develop and evaluate prosthetic and orthotic devices and
related orthopedic procedures to meet the changing needs of growing
children with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal impairments;
Identify and assess the suitability of materials for use
in these devices, including composite materials, considering the
weight, strength, durability, adaptability, techniques of fabrication,
cost and cosmetic acceptability;
Develop improved methods for fabricating assistive devices
for children, including those using composite materials;
Evaluate the effectiveness of the systems of delivery of
prosthetic and orthotic devices and closely related assistive
technology to children with orthopedic impairments and develop
recommendations to improve the current systems;
Identify, develop, and evaluate models to enable children
and families, as well as clinicians, to test prosthetic and orthotic
devices for suitability prior to purchase;
Identify the unique barriers to effective service delivery
for prosthetic and orthotic devices facing families of children with
orthopedic disabilities from minority backgrounds and develop
strategies for overcoming those barriers; and
Develop and implement strategies to increase the
participation of children with orthopedic impairments and their parents
in identifying user needs for prosthetic and orthotic devices and
future areas of research.
Proposed Priority 2: Technology for Low Vision and Blindness Background
The National Center for Health Statistics and other authorities
variously estimate the number of legally blind persons in the United
States at 400,000 to 600,000, with another 1.4 million persons severely
visually impaired. More than 10 million others have some visual
impairment that cannot be further improved with corrective lenses.
There are also large and rapidly increasing numbers of older
individuals with impairments in contrast, binocularity, and adaptation,
which significantly limit their performance in a wide variety of
everyday tasks.
Technological innovations arising from the development of new
scientific and medical knowledge can have a positive impact on the
lives of persons with low vision or blindness. While progress has been
made regarding educational and vocational aids, optical amplifiers for
low vision, orientation and mobility aids, and improved functional
vision assessment, the need remains for improvements in these areas.
For example, there is a need for new and innovative adaptive devices
and development of systems engineering solutions to assist in our
efforts to prepare all children with low vision and blindness to enter
school ready to learn through early identification, monitoring, and
treatment of visual impairments in neonates and infants.
A report of the Technology Research Working Group stemming from the
NIDRR Project Directors Meeting in January 1994, identified the need
for technology to improve access to visual displays, including flat
panel displays and devices that use liquid crystal displays with low
contrast. Research is also needed to maintain access to new products
with advancing technology used in the home, workplace, and the
community, such as solid state displays, keypads, and compact disc
technology.
Vision-related research is needed to provide access to public
facilities and mass transit. One of the main problems for persons who
are blind or visually impaired is locating the facility in question
(e.g., the bus stop, the subway entrance, ticket vending machine,
telephone, bathrooms, etc.), or for orientation and mobility in large
open areas or closed crowded spaces. New techniques for orientation and
mobility will increase independent mobility for persons with blindness
and low vision and decrease dependance on others for information and
assistance. There is also a need to research, develop, and evaluate new
and adaptive technology for persons with deaf-blindness, including
tactile communications for devices such as emergency alarms, doorbells,
and TDD phones.
Captioning technology and systems have been developed to provide
audio information in visual form for persons who are deaf. A need
exists for these same types of technology and systems to provide visual
information in audio form for persons who are blind. As technology
becomes increasingly graphic in nature, especially with the
proliferation of computer-generated imagery, persons who are blind or
who have low vision are increasingly at risk of being denied access to
communication formats that are high in graphic content.
The feasibility of descriptive video has been investigated
(Technical Viability of Descriptive Video Services, June 1990, prepared
for U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education
Programs). A need exists to advance this technology in order to
increase utilization of descriptive video by persons with low vision
and blindness.
Proposed Priority
An RERC on low vision and blindness shall--
Develop technology and methods for the detection,
monitoring, and diagnosis of visual impairments in neonates and
infants;
Develop technology and methods for orientation and
mobility in large open areas, including map reading, or crowded rooms
for persons with blindness or low vision;
Develop reduced-cost engineering solutions for increasing
utilization of descriptive video;
Develop technology and methods for improving access to
visual displays, including flat panel displays (e.g., develop an
adaptive template overlay technology for flat panel displays), found in
the home, in the community, and at work such as automatic teller
machines, home appliances, stereo equipment, and other devices that use
LCD and LED technologies;
Develop technology to maintain access to new products with
advancing technology used in the home, workplace, and the community,
such as solid state displays, keypads, and compact disc technology;
Develop technology, such as emergency alarms, doorbells,
and TDD phones, for persons with deaf-blindness to assist them in their
activities of daily living;
Develop technology and methods for improving access by
persons with low vision or blindness to electronic information systems;
and
Develop an engineering design review method for
application to proposed new technology projects that first considers
commercially available or universal design interfaces before developing
orphan technology for individuals with low vision and blindness.
Proposed Priority 3: Universal Telecommunications Access Background
Generally speaking, individuals with communication disabilities are
those with a hearing, vision, speech, or neurological impairment, or a
combination of such impairments. This priority proposes a program of
research to promote greater access to emerging telecommunications
technology by individuals who have communication disabilities.
The coming decade is likely to bring advances in the way people
communicate over distances. Access to greater bandwidth in the
telephone network will lead to new advances, new devices and new
services, such as switched video, TV-phones, or voice-to-print (Hinton,
OSEP Final Report, ``Advanced Technologies for Benefit to Persons with
Sensory Disabilities,'' 1992). Already low-cost facsimile technology,
answering machines, and voice mail are changing office communications.
Computer-based information services abound, and telephones themselves
are no longer standard. Persons with speech impairments are
increasingly at a disadvantage with voice recognition and voice mail
telecommunication systems because they are designed for standard speech
which is clear and contains prosody information. The employment status,
social, and family life of persons with disabilities could be affected
by their access to advances in telecommunications.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires private
employers, State and local governments, employment agencies, labor
unions, and joint labor-management committees to provide reasonable
accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, including
those with communication disabilities. The ADA also requires State and
local governments and public accommodations to make available auxiliary
aids and services available where necessary to ensure effective
communication.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, requires
the Secretary, through the Director of the National Institute on
Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and the Administrator of the
General Services Administration, to ``develop and establish guidelines
for Federal agencies for electronic and information technology
accessibility designed to ensure, regardless of the type of medium,
that individuals with disabilities can produce information and data,
and have access to information and data, comparable to the information
and data, and access, respectively, of individuals who are not
individuals with disabilities.'' Section 508 also provides that the
guidelines ``shall be revised, as necessary, to reflect technological
advances or changes.''
Past efforts in opening up developing technology to include access
for persons with communication disabilities have been retrospective
rather than prospective. Too frequently telecommunications technologies
are developed and become widely used before consumers who have
communication disabilities become aware of the barriers they
inadvertently contain. There is a need to affect the development of
telecommunications technology, regulations, and standards in order to
promote the incorporation of universal design features. Furthermore,
there is a need to communicate information routinely to appropriate
researchers, manufacturers, and other major contributors to
communication technology that will contribute to the development of
accessible telecommunications devices and systems. The need for special
customer-premised equipment will be reduced when international
standards include features that make general-market products accessible
to persons with communications disabilities.
Technological advances in the field of telecommunications, both in
this country and internationally, have the potential to represent
either new opportunities to disabled people or new barriers. This
proposed RERC shall work closely with developers and manufacturers to
enhance awareness of how emerging telecommunications developments can
be modified to incorporate features that are directly responsive to the
special needs of individuals with communication disabilities.
Applicants for this priority must demonstrate knowledge of the
history and present roles of various Government agencies in
telecommunications and electronic equipment accessibility, such as
NIDRR, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the General
Services Administration (GSA), the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Telecommunications
Information Administration (NTIA). Applicants must also demonstrate a
knowledge of other NIDRR-funded programs studying issues of persons
with communications impairments as well as related information
databases, private national and international organizations, such as
the United States Telephone Association and the Telecommunications
Industries Association and the International Telecommunication Union's
Technology unit (ITU-T).
Proposed Priority
An RERC on universal telecommunications access shall--
Undertake a systems engineering analysis of emerging
telecommunications technology (such as signal compression, analog to
digital systems transitions, satellite transmission, development of a
national information infrastructure, telecommunity living, voice-to-
print, Mosaic and Windows multimedia interfaces, etc.) to identify
potential technological barriers and marketplace disincentives for
persons with communication disabilities, and, based on these analyses,
identify and develop universal design strategies to avoid these
barriers;
Develop an engineering design review methodology for
dissemination to designers that encourages universal access designs in
the development of technology;
Develop or evaluate innovative applications of
telecommunication technology to enable individuals with disabilities to
be more independent at home, in the community, and at work, including,
but not limited to, voice mail, videophones, cellular phones,
descriptive video, speech clarification, etc;
Identify and develop accessible design characteristics for
telecommunications technology and services and provide appropriate
industries and agencies with the results of this research;
Develop engineering test methods and labeling requirements
to facilitate development of improved technical specifications to
enhance accessibility in equipment, services, signaling, transmission,
and other aspects of telecommunications, with immediate emphasis on
improving relay devices and cooperating with agencies responsible for
national and international and other industry group standards;
Develop model training programs and materials on the use
and capacities of new and emerging telecommunications technologies; and
In the second year of the grant, investigate applications
of telecommunications technology to improve access to mainstream
educational programming for students with disabilities, especially
students in economically disadvantaged areas.
Invitation To Comment
Interested persons are invited to submit comments and
recommendations regarding this proposed priority. All comments
submitted in response to this notice will be available for public
inspection, during and after the comment period, in Room 3424, Switzer
Building, 330 C Street S.W., Washington, D.C., between the hours of
9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday of each week except
Federal holidays.
Applicable Program Regulations
34 CFR Parts 350 and 353.
Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 760-762.
Dated: August 22, 1994.
Judith E. Heumann,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.133E,
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers).
[FR Doc. 94-20971 Filed 8-24-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
