This study aimed to investigate the needs and challenges faced by visually impairedindividuals when using the internet and assess the compatibility of the challengesthey face with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). By exam-ining these aspects, through analysis of existing literature, surveys and interview.The study sought to gain insights into the difficulties experienced by the visuallyimpaired community and provide recommendations for improving web accessibilityand contribute to the development of more accessible and user-friendly web content.This, in turn, can improve the quality of life for individuals with visual impairmentsand promote their active involvement in social, economic, and cultural activities.The study findings indicate common obstacles faced by individuals with visual im-pairments when accessing the internet, including difficulties in reading text, limitedcustomization options, insufficient color contrast, poorly structured content, inacces-sible forms or inputs, challenges in identifying images or icons, navigating web pages,and completing forms.Individuals with visual impairments have unique requirements when using theinternet, such as the use of assistive technologies and alternative text descriptions.However, they encounter various obstacles that hinder their access and engagementwith digital content and services.Although WCAG 2.0 serves as a foundationalframework for web accessibility, there is still room for improvement in terms ofawareness, implementation, and testing. Further efforts are necessary to enhanceinternet accessibility for individuals with visual impairments, facilitating their fullparticipation in social, economic, and cultural activities.

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AbstractWesterlund, Charlotta (2011) Inkludering- exkludering; Hur elever med hörselnedsättningar upplevt sin skolgång (inclusion- exclusion; How students with hearing loss experienced their School time). Skolutveckling och ledarskap, lärande och samhälle, Malmö högskola.Att vara hörselskadad betyder ofta att den sociala kommunikationen och samvaron med andra människor påverkas. Många är beroende av tekniska hjälpmedel, så som hörapparater och hörselslingor, för att kunna följa med i samtal och för att kunna känna sig delaktiga. Att få tillgång till rätt hjälpmedel är varje landstingsinvånares och elevs rätt. Är detta tillräckligt för att eleven ska känna sig inkluderad i skolans verksamheter? Hur har elever med hörselnedsättning upplevt sin egen grundskoletid, utifrån ett inkluderande perspektiv? Kan man vara inkluderad och ändå känna sig exkluderad? Är det tillräckligt att få gå i samma klass som ”hörande” elever för att känna sig inkluderad?Detta är en undersökning med kvalitativ ansats, som består av tre djupgående intervjuer och 20 öppna frågeformulär, om elevers egna erfarenheter och tankar kring sin grundskoletid. Syftet med undersökningen är att få en ökad kunskap om och en inblick i, elevernas egna upplevelser av delaktighet under sin skolgång, vare sig man gått i specialskola eller haft sin undervisning bland ”hörande” klasskamrater.Resultatet av undersökningen visar att många av de elever som går på skolor tillsammans med hörande klasskamrater, har svårt att känna sig inkluderade. I hörselklasskolor känner sig eleverna mer inkluderade, medan de på fritiden ofta känner sig ensamma, då avstånden till klasskompisar är långa. De spontana, sociala kontakterna blir lidande.Nyckelord: Hörselskador, skolformer, sociala relationer, stigmatisering, stämplingsteori / Westerlund, Charlotta (2011) Inclusion- exclusion; How students with hearing loss experienced their school time (Hur elever med hörselnedsättningar upplevt sin skolgång). Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärande och samhälle, Malmö högskola.To have a hearing impairment often means that the social communication and togetherness with other people affects. Many are depended on technical aids, such as hearing aids and hearing loops, to be able to follow conversations and to be able to feel involved. It is every student and county inhabitants right to have access to aids. Is this enough for the student to feel involved in school activities? How have students with hearing loss experienced their own school time out of an including perspective? Can a person be included and still feel excluded? Is it enough to attend a class with “hearing” students, to feel included?This is a qualitative study, which contains three deep interviews and twenty open questionnaires, about students own experiences and thoughts about their school time. The purpose of the study, have been to increase knowledge and insight in students experiences of involvement during their school time, whether they went to special schools or not.The results of the study, shows that many students with hearing loss, don’t feel included in community schools with hearing classmates. In special schools the students with hearing loss feels included but during their spare time, they often feels alone, because their classmates lives far away and the spontaneous social contacts decreases.

The collaborative efforts of families, educators, and policy makers have merged vocational training with special education services for students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 introduced mandates for schools to provide transition services for students with disabilities based on three areas of need: a) education, b) employment, and independent living. This legislation has led to more work-based learning programs that meet the postsecondary needs for students with disabilities. Despite this increase in work-based learning programs many students with disabilities are still unable to make successful transitions into postsecondary outcomes. Using a mixed method design, this study examined the impact of a Job Experience Training (JET) program on the executive functioning skills of seven young men (15 to 18 years of age) over the course of seven weeks at an assisted living facility. Results of the teacher evaluations showed the students were capable of completing tasks, making individual goals, and increasing executive functioning skills while participating in the JET program. Conversely, the results from the parent and student assessments showed little to no change in executive functioning skills once the participants were outside the context of the assisted living facility. Future research is encouraged to examine a longitudinal study across multiple job sites that evaluates and measures the students’ ability to transfer executive functioning skills to other contexts and further investigate mentoring as the core teaching strategy of a JET program.

INTRODUCTION: Children in inpatient settings are in an unfamiliar environment that does not facilitate engagement in typical occupations. Children report multiple concerns with the hospital environment and experience including physical pain, loss of independence, loss of meaningful activities, lack of routine, and loss of control. Occupational therapists play a distinct role in improving the hospitalization experience for children by addressing these concerns. By improving the evaluation and treatment of visual deficits for children in inpatients settings, occupational therapists can increase children’s function and independence in meaningful activities and maximize psychological well-being. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE AND EVIDENCE: Self-determination theory posits that humans have three innate psychological needs – competence, autonomy, and relatedness. These needs are not being met for children in inpatient settings as shown by multiple qualitative studies, however occupational therapy can aid in meeting these needs through proper intervention. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: Resources were developed to improve the evaluation and treatment of visual deficits in children in inpatient settings including a vision screening tool, treatment protocol, referral protocol, and functional implications of visual deficits chart. METHODS: The vision screening tool and protocols were used on a small sample of patients (n=6) to identify and treat visual deficits. A survey was provided to occupational therapists to determine feasibility, usefulness, and effectiveness of the resources. CONCLUSION: The resources are useful and feasible for evaluating and treating visual deficits in children in the inpatient setting.

The increased understanding of underlying neurobiological processes and their connections to cognitive performance has opened new doors for novel therapeutic strategies that aim to prevent, and even reverse the effects of memory disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and other cognitive impairments. One of the new and exciting drug targets that has emerged as a result of this research is insulin-regulated aminopeptidase (IRAP). While the research is still in its early stages, inhibition of IRAP have promising therapeutic potential and several small molecule and peptidomimetic candidates that act as inhibitors of IRAP have been synthesized. Analysis of in vivo performed novel object recognition tests, in vitro cell viability and morphology assays were conducted in this study to further investigate the cognitive effects and other effects of an IRAP-inhibitor called HA08. Recorded novel object recognition test previously performed on rats were scored and analysed with statistical software. Primary cortical and hippocampal cells harvested from rat fetuses were treated with increasing concentrations of HA08 and oxytocin. The cell viability assays consisted of LDH assays to analyse HA08’s effect on the cells membrane integrity and MTT assays to analyse its effect on mitochondrial function. Immunocytochemistry was used to assess the difference in neurite length in cortical cells and the number of dendritic spines in hippocampal cells. No increases in recognition were found in HA08 treated rats. HA08 did not seem to affect the membrane integrity at concentrations used. Further research is needed to improve the accuracy of the results and to fully unlock the potential of IRAP-inhibitor HA08.

Hearing impairments are a sensitive component of our society. Lots of people are affected by them and considering this aspect in imagining and designing how the future will sound like is important. In this research project, a suggestion on a soundscape design tool to be used and manipulated by people affected by hearing disabilities is proposed. Together with this, it will be described as well how to implement and define a user interface with the scope of managing and manipulating these soundscapes. This project also faces the task of creating a setup oriented towards a museum setting: this carries with itself several variables to be kept in account, such as an unpredictable and quite broad users' range, and a special consideration for the lower-age range users. These have been found to be the most attending the museum environment, as far as it concerns Tekniska Museet. A three-phase experiment was then carried out. It involved a class of hearing-impaired pre-teenagers, the visitors of Tekniska and other hearing-impaired testers. Both qualitative and quantitative data about the interaction with the interface and the perceptual experience with the soundscapes were collected. The final assessments are that a focus on a playful aspect and the simplicity of shapes was the key for a suitable interface design focused on children, and that the contribution of the hearing impaired is relevant, at least in the later stage of the soundscape design process. / Hörselskador är en känslig del av vårt samhälle. Många människor påverkas av dem och det är viktigt att tänka på den aspekten då man föreställer sig och designar hur framtiden ska låta. Inom det här forskningsprojektet ska ett förslag på ett ljudlandskapsdesign-vektyg, ämnat att användas och hanteras av människor påverkade av hörselskador, framföras. Tillsammans med detta så beskrivs också hur ett användargränssnitt, med omfattningen att hantera och manipulera dessa ljudlandskap, fastställdes och implementerades inom systemet. Det här projektet möter dessutom utmaningen av att skapa ett system byggt för en museiutställning. Med detta tillkommer några variabler som måste hållas i åtanke, som en oförutsägbar och ganska bred användarskara. Speciellt stor omtanke läggs dock på yngre användare, som visade sig vara majoriteten av besökarna hos museet i fråga, nämligen Tekniska Museet. Ett experiment bestående av tre faser utförs, bestående av en skolklass av hörselskadade elever i tidiga tonårsåldern, Tekniska Museets besökare samt andra hörselskadade användare. Efter en insamling av både kvalitativa och kvantitativa data på interaktionen med gränssnittet samt den perceptuella upplevelsen av ljudlandskapen, dras slutsatsen att ett fokus på lekfullt utseende och enkelhet inom formerna är nyckeln för en lämplig gränssnitsdesign som har i åtanke barnens deltagande. Dessutom dras även slutsatsen att bidraget av hörselskadade individer är relevant, åtminstone i senare skeden av ljudlandskapsdesign-processen.

Background: Technology can provide efficient and accessible solutions to manage private economy, taking into account user needs and experiences. People with disability are most likely to encounter challenges related to financial literacy and lack of access to their own money. The project God man i fickan in Sweden aims to develop an accessible application that supports people with difficulties handling their private economy. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate basic functions and interactions in a digital tool used by people who cannot manage their own economy without some kind of assistance. Method: Participatory design activities involving people with cognitive impairments were utilized. The qualitative data collection included discussions, storyboarding and an online design session. Due to Covid- 19 we had to modify one workshop for online environments. The collected data was analyzed with a content theme analysis which then was visualized and refined iteratively through wireframes and a lo-fi prototype. Results: The study revealed a number of user values, reflecting user needs, and a number of key features that should be supported by the application. A heuristic evaluation of the lo-fi prototype showed that using a provocative object engaged the participants in critical reflections and discussions. Discussion: By involving people with cognitive impairments in the design process through participatory design activities, the methodology used in this study allowed them to influence the design and application functionalities. / Bakgrund: Teknik kan bidra med effektiva och tillgängliga lösningar för att hantera privatekonomi, med hänsyn till användarens behov och erfarenheter. Personer med funktionsnedsättningar är den grupp som möter störst utmaningar relaterade till ekonomisk förståelse och bristande tillgång till sina egna pengar. Syftet med projektet God man i fickan är att utveckla en applikation som stödjer personer med svårigheter att hantera sin privatekonomi. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka grundläggande funktionalitet och interaktion i ett digitalt verktyg för personer som inte kan hantera sin ekonomi utan någon form av assistans. Metoder: För att genomföra studies syfte användes deltagande design aktiviteter med personer med kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar. Kvalitativa data samlades in genom diskussioner, storyboarding och en designsession. På grund av Covid-19 var vi tvungna att anpassa en workshop för miljöer online. Data som samlades in analyserades i olika teman som visualiserades och gradvis förfinades genom wireframes och en lo-fi prototyp. Resultat: Studien kunde urskilja ett antal användarvärden, som reflekterar användarbehov, och ett antal nyckelfunktioner som borde vara inkluderade i applikationen. En heuristisk utvärdering av lo-fi prototypen visade på att användningen av ett provokativt objekt engagerade användarna i kritiska reflektioner och diskussioner. Diskussion: Genom att involvera personer med kognitiva funktionsnedsättningar i designprocessen och i deltagande design aktiviteter kunde studie ge dessa personer ett inflytande över designen och applikationens funktionalitet.

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