| Paradigms have emerged pertaining to the theory of person-environment relationships specific to people with mobility conditions. Disability, according to the social model, is not a function of the person but of the environment:;It [disability] is not individual limitations, of whatever kind, which are the cause of the problem but society's failure to provide appropriate services and adequately ensure the needs of disabled people are fully taken into account in its social organization. Further, the consequences of this failure does not simply and randomly fall on individuals but systematically upon disabled people as a group who experience this failure as discrimination institutionalized throughout society. (Oliver, 1990, pp. 3);The thesis adopted the position of Oliver, and operated with the ideal that, in a perfect environment every person would be able. In terms of social integration, the thesis recognized that our built environment often fails to bring people of varying physical and cognitive abilities into unrestricted association, enabling equal opportunities to interact. In truth, this failure has the potential to perpetuate the stigma associated with disability.;Statement of Significance of Issue. Important information has emerged suggesting the severity of the situation. The population of wheelchair users doubled between the years of 1980 to 1990 (Kaye et al. 2000, pp. 7) and still increases. The increase of wheelchair users, which in some cases has been estimated to be 1.7 million people in the United States (Kaye, et al. 2000, pp. 9), is often attributed to several factors. Americans age 65 and older comprise almost 13 percent of our over three-hundred million person population and as Steinfeld (1994, pp. 2) cites "by the year 2030, 20% of the population will be over 65." Knowledge continues to emerge suggesting that although in some cases access is facilitated, social integration is not encouraged. Thepar et al. (2004) writes:;...although a number of federal reports and surveys conducted to determine accessibility for People With Impairments (PWI) highlight the American Disabilities Act's (ADA) achievements in improving access, they continue to report widespread and persistent barriers to employment; education; religious settings; social, cultural, and political participation; transportation; health care; and recreational activities. (pp 285);From a purely functional perspective, an inadequate proportion of people who use assistive devices for mobility are granted access via ramps supplementing stairs. The symptoms of diseases such as osteoarthritis, stroke, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Guillain-Barre syndrome can reduce and in some cases eliminate physical ability, making the use of a ramp impossible in a manual wheelchair. Furthermore, the number of people using manual wheelchairs is significantly higher than the number of people using electric wheelchairs (Kaye, et al. 2000, pp. 17), suggesting that a significant portion of the population is not only socially excluded, but also not granted access.;Expected Outcome. The outcome is a (1) Research Method, and (2) Preliminary Analysis of Data that begins to depict the nature of the relationship between people who use assistive technology for mobility and built environment conditions of varying social integration/isolation. This expanded the evidence pertaining to the subject of social integration, and provided a method with which further studies could be done. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
