The need for a new technique for assessing the physical ability of severely disabled persons became evident through experience with some of the existing techniques. A technique was developed which attempts to overcome some of the difficulties found with the other techniques. One of the distinguishing properties of this technique is that it is norm independent. This means it does not reference a normal scale of performance, thus it does not compare the performance of a disabled person to a standard established by able-bodied persons. Additional properties possessed by this technique also set it apart from the others: it is limited to a test of manipulation ability; it generates a profile of ability; it incurs only a minimal expense; it requires only a minimal amount of time; and there is no required training course for the administrator. / M.S.