Mobility, Accessibility and Safety of People with Cerebral Palsy

Ana Marta Amaral de Carvalho, Alireza Asvadi, Carlos Carona, Ana Lopes, Urbano Nunes

2015

Abstract

This research characterizes mobility, accessibility and safety of individuals with severe motor impairment such as users suffering from Cerebral Palsy (CP). Through the analysis of enabling factors, constraints associated and the search of possible improvements, it is possible to identify the needs in these fields and subsequently develop strategies accordingly. The sample was collected in Coimbra Cerebral Palsy Association (APCC) and it included 16 individuals with CP. To these individuals we gave an evaluation protocol with a form with clinical and sociodemographic data and a questionnaire. The main limiting factors include building/vehicle access, difficulty in reverse drive and lack of safety. The most valued features of a powered wheelchair are comfort and structure, easy navigation and wheelchair control and safety. The lack of safety in the outdoors was a relevant limiting factor. Almost all individuals requested improvements of the powered wheelchair. The most requested improvements were safety related or related with navigation problems. An assistive navigation solution based on a shared control algorithm is presented, where a powered wheelchair is equipped with the Kinect sensor, in order to help the user maneuvering the wheelchair safely.

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Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Amaral de Carvalho A., Asvadi A., Carona C., Lopes A. and Nunes U. (2015). Mobility, Accessibility and Safety of People with Cerebral Palsy . In Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2015) ISBN 978-989-758-068-0, pages 268-275. DOI: 10.5220/0005185502680275


in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf15,
author={Ana Marta Amaral de Carvalho and Alireza Asvadi and Carlos Carona and Ana Lopes and Urbano Nunes},
title={Mobility, Accessibility and Safety of People with Cerebral Palsy},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2015)},
year={2015},
pages={268-275},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0005185502680275},
isbn={978-989-758-068-0},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2015)
TI - Mobility, Accessibility and Safety of People with Cerebral Palsy
SN - 978-989-758-068-0
AU - Amaral de Carvalho A.
AU - Asvadi A.
AU - Carona C.
AU - Lopes A.
AU - Nunes U.
PY - 2015
SP - 268
EP - 275
DO - 10.5220/0005185502680275