Hispanics' Awareness of Assistive Technology
By Guzman, Alberto; Ostrander, Noam; Assistive Technology, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 28-34Publication Date: Spring 2009
Study compared Hispanics’ awareness and use of services available to acquire assistive technology (AT) to the findings from a national sample. For the national sample, data were collected from a sample of 1,418 adult individuals with disabilities throughout the U.S, divided into Whites and non-Whites. Due to the poor representation of Hispanics in the sample, and using the same survey instrument as the national study, a follow-up study was conducted focusing on 107 Hispanics with disabilities. The following research questions were posed: (1) Are there intergroup differences between Hispanics with disabilities and non-Hispanics with disabilities in the way they receive help accessing AT services? and (2) Are there intra-group differences among Hispanics regarding the way they receive help and their awareness of available help to acquire AT? Study findings suggested a large disparity between awareness of available services to acquire AT and actual receipt of such services. In addition, although similar patterns were found, the Hispanics from the national sample appeared more aligned with the overall White and non-White sample, while the Hispanics from the Hispanic-only sample seemed to be using services at higher percentages. Study limitations and implications for further research are discussed.
Published by: Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) (Website:http://www.resna.org)
