Analysis of the Non‐Driving Mobility Needs of People with Disabilities

Abstract

People with disabilities face a variety of challenges in navigating the built environment in their everyday lives. These include people with physical impairments ranging from chronic pain to the use of wheelchairs, walkers, and other assistive devices as well as people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For both groups, including the many individuals that fall into both categories, there is a need for solutions to assist their movement through the world. The goal of this project is to conduct a series of surveys and interviews with people with a variety of disabilities to enable a deeper understanding of the mobility challenges they face on a regular basis. Data generated from the survey and interviews will be used to create a report summarizing the current state of mobility needs of people with a variety of disabilities in a range of localities. This report will stand alone as a powerful research document, and a condensed version will be submitted to a peer‐reviewed journal for publication consideration. In addition, the information gained in this study will be synthesized by the larger VRU‐MAP research team to assist with the feature and interface development of the prototype version of the assistance application.

CATM Research Affiliate:
Justin Owens (VTTI)