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Prevalence of hearing impairment is quite common in people with learning disabilities (double jeopardy). However, this debilitating co‐morbidity remains largely undetected by carers and professionals due to presence of additional disabilities and complex clinical presentation in this population on the one hand, and lack of specialist hearing impairment service provision and difficulty in accessing generic audiology services on the other hand. This article aims to provide practical guidance on assessment and management of hearing impairment in people with learning disabilities by offering a narrative review of available literature on gaps in service delivery.

This paper explores the findings from a recent study about the assessment and management of care for older people who may have a sensory impairment. Using qualitative research methods, the work focused on non‐specialist practitioners who are responsible for the assessment and management of care for older people and their carers. The findings are based upon the analysis of in‐depth interviews with non‐specialist practitioners, specialist workers and managers from statutory and voluntary sector agencies. Older people with a hearing impairment or a visual impairment are not a homogenous group of people with a single set of needs or service support networks. It is the existence of non‐specialist practitioners, carrying out the assessment and management of care for older people that draw together in one study the three areas of visual impairment, hearing impairment and dual impairment. The findings relate to practitioners' awareness of sensory impairment in their local community; how practitioners assess and manage care; access to services; staff training and development; and, information strategies. The interface between non‐specialists and practitioners with particular expertise in sensory impairment is also examined. The implications for policy and practice are identified.

The purpose of this research is to analyse the accessibility of Spanish beaches for blind people and their guide dogs as an inclusive tourist destination for national and international tourists.

This empirical research used a quantitative and qualitative methodology from public and private organizations, which intends to give voice to blind people to improve their quality of life.

This study presents a new and surprising contribution to the issue of accessibility of beaches for blind people and future studies related to this topic. Findings revealed that Spain has only nine adapted beaches for blind people, and most Spanish tourist destinations exclude blind people and its guide dogs from enjoying the beach and the sun and their facilities. In Spain there are in total 3,547 beaches; 10.3% of these are adapted beaches for people with reduced mobility, whereas only 0.25% are adapted beaches for blind people. Indeed, results also suggest that more efforts are required in response to the needs of blind people in tourism and transport activities by researchers, academics and government bodies.

The contribution of this paper is especially important for the management of the accessibility of Spanish beaches for blind people and their guide dogs by public and private organizations.

这项实证研究采用了来自公共和私人组织的定量和定性方法, 旨在让盲人发声以改善他们的生活质量。

本研究的目的是分析作为国内和国际游客包容性旅游目的地的西班牙海滩对盲人及其导盲犬的可达性。

这项研究对盲人的海滩可达性和与该主题相关的未来研究提出了新的和令人惊讶的贡献。 调查结果显示, 西班牙只有9个适合盲人的海滩, 大多数西班牙旅游目的地都将盲人及其导盲犬排除在享受海滩和阳光及其设施外。 西班牙共有 3,547 个海滩, 其中 10.3% 是适合行动不便人士使用的海滩, 而只有 0.25% 是适合盲人使用的海滩。 事实上, 结果还表明, 研究人员、学术界、政府机构、私营企业以及一个更加公平、团结和慷慨的社会需要做出更多努力来满足盲人在旅游和交通活动中的需求。

本文的贡献对于公共和私人组织管理盲人及其导盲犬在西班牙海滩的可达性尤为重要。

El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la accesibilidad de las playas españolas para personas ciegas y sus perros guía como destino turístico inclusivo para turistas nacionales e internacionales.

Esta investigación utilizó una metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa apoyada con datos de organizaciones públicas y privadas, con la finalidad de dar voz a las personas ciegas para mejorar su calidad de vida.

Este estudio presenta una nueva y sorprendente contribución sobre la accesibilidad de las playas para personas ciegas y futuros estudios relacionados con este tema. Los resultados revelaron que España tiene solo 9 playas adaptadas para invidentes, la mayoría de los destinos turísticos españoles están excluyendo a las personas invidentes y sus perros guía para disfrutar de la playa y el sol, y de sus instalaciones. En España hay un total de 3.547 playas, el 10,3% son playas adaptadas para personas con movilidad reducida, mientras que solo el 0,25% son playas adaptadas para invidentes. De hecho, los resultados también sugieren que se requieren más esfuerzos en respuesta a las necesidades de las personas ciegas en las actividades de turismo y transporte por parte de investigadores, académicos, organismos gubernamentales, empresas privadas y una sociedad más justa, solidaria y generosa.

La contribución de este trabajo es especialmente importante para la gestión de la accesibilidad de las playas españolas para personas ciegas y sus perros guía por parte de organismos públicos y privados.

Developing countries are endeavoring to advance into the 21st century information age. Their progress, however, is hamstrung by the dire lack of trained, skilled and knowledgeable IS workers who are able to interact with online and off‐line information sources. These countries can tap from the rich intellectual capital lying dormant within the ranks of disabled people to boost the pool of IS workers in their societies. However, before developing countries can draw on the information systems capabilities of disabled workers, these workers themselves must be able to function at par with their able‐bodied counterparts as information workers. This presupposes the availability of special‐purpose information systems devices and approaches developed for disabled users. In this paper, therefore, we examine several issues that are pertinent to IS and disabled people in developing countries, and propose an integrated infrastructure to enhance the interaction of disabled people with on‐line information sources. The study includes issues related to the suitability of different interaction methodologies and technologies for people with disabilities. Additionally, we propose the design of customized interfaces that can be used by disabled people to develop Web‐based database applications and to access and query on‐line databases.

Hearing aid (HA) using is an option for enhancing the sound transmission. It effectively improves hearing ability during communication. In Thailand, two-third of hearing impaired persons were elders, while the utilization of an HA was low. This study aims to explore how the decision was made on the use of HA among the hearing impaired elderly.

Mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was used by starting with a retrospective study to identify the prevalence of HA use and influencing factors including demographic and clinical data. Total, 199 elders with moderate to severe hearing impairment were enrolled. Qualitative data collection for thematic analysis was conducted by interviewing 28 participants to reveal elders’ subjective reasoning.

It was found that 25.63% of elders used an HA, whereas age, types of health insurance and disability registration were significant influencing factors. Six themes of subjective reasoning emerged including social activities, disability perspective, social support, medical and personnel, rights and accessibility and benefit of HA, which determined the elders’ decisions on HA use.

This study broadened insights of the elders’ decision process on HA use, which was mutually made by both health-care professional and care recipients. The elders themselves would make the final decision. Not only objective indications but also subjective reasoning of users played significant roles on HA acquisition. To enhance HA use among hearing impaired elders, patient engagement in decision-making was crucial while hearing counselling and elimination of reimbursement barriers became essential.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the most hindering barriers that sight and hearing impaired passengers face when using public transport services. Furthermore, possible convenient solutions to the identified problems shall be presented. To allow for an understanding of these propositions a short introduction and clear definition on sight and hearing impairment is provided.

First a clear definition of sight and hearing impairment is developed to delimit from blind and “normal” persons. A two phase approach was utilized where in the first step qualitative interviews were conducted and the findings were then evaluated based on a literature review.

The authors found a wide variety of different problems being imposed on impaired passengers that could be segmented into four categories (“stops and stations”, “vehicles”, “general mobility problems” and “public awareness”). Additionally multiple solutions to each of these barriers are presented and the main target group is indicated.

Further research is required in the perception of the impaired on specific barriers and solutions, which was only qualitatively provided in this study. Additionally the attitude and awareness of public transport companies towards the recognition of sight and hearing impaired as a specific target group and the implementation of solutions for them are important factors that are not investigated as of yet.

As public transport is an ever more important factor in everyday life, the responsible authorities should be made aware of the specific problems imposed on sight and hearing impaired persons. Therefore, this paper provides a first comprehensive list of barriers with convenient solutions that should be considered for a barrier‐free public transport system.

This paper provides a first introduction of barriers and possible solutions for sight and hearing impaired passengers in public transport systems. Therefore, authorities and public transport companies looking for options to improve their services can lean on these results.

Recently with increased legislative support and evidence-based studies on the importance of education for children with disabilities in China, special education programs and intervention and rehabilitation services have received more and more attention. There are limited studies on special education programs for children with disabilities located in China’s rural areas. This paper aims to select one special education program in China’s northeast rural area with a special focus on its curriculum design, accommodative services and teacher qualifications. Recommendations were provided on how to modify the curriculum to meet each child’s special needs, increase social interaction among children, increase teacher qualifications and improve teacher family collaboration.

The participating program serves orphans and children with disabilities between 6 and 18 years old and provides them 9-year free education, along with free textbooks, uniforms, food and boarding. Currently, there are approximately 100 students and 40 teachers, one director and one nurse. The teacher/staff and student ratio is 1:3. Data were collected through classroom observation and interviews. Afterward, the interview data were transcribed. Data were analyzed following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step approach. The researcher reviewed the collected data, then coded the data and reviewed, refined and revised the codes, and finally themes and sub-themes were identified with quotations that support each theme/sub-theme.

The identified themes are accommodations, education plan and curriculum and teacher qualifications. Accommodations include, but are not limited to, visual and hearing aids. National unity textbooks were adopted, along with national syllabus objectives, as a guideline for instruction and evaluation of child progress. Teachers also adjust curriculum-based students’ individual needs. All teachers hold an associate degree in special education, and those who teach specials hold a higher degree in the specialty area. Given that there is no speech language pathologist, physical therapist, or occupational therapist, teachers with rich working experiences in the related field serve as special professionals.

The current research reports the program design, accommodations for children with disabilities, curriculum and syllabus, parent/guardian role and teacher qualifications in the selected school. Given that the current study focuses on only one school located in the rural area of China’s northeast, it may represent special education programs in rural China, but it is hard to be generalized to provide a big picture of China’s special education programs in more developed, metropolitan areas.

The selected school offers accommodative services to students with disabilities; adjusts its curriculum to make it developmentally appropriate; and offers educational, medical and rehabilitation services to promote student development to the maximum. The selected school should improve teacher quality, increase social interaction between children with and without disabilities, modify the curriculum to cater to individuals with different severities of disabilities and increase family professional collaboration.

There is limited study on special education programs for young children with disabilities in China’s rural area. The current study fills this gap and studies a special education school that offers services to children as young as six years old located in a small town in the northeast of China. The special focus of the study includes program curriculum, accommodations, rehabilitation and intervention services and teacher qualifications in this program.

Investigates ways in which computer technology can enable people with a hearing and/or speech impairment to communicate. These range from telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs) to software designed to teach deaf children how to read and write in English (often their second language!). Other new technology includes software that converts English into American Sign Language vocabulary, and under development is a system which will facilitate communication between a hearing person and a person with a combination of hearing/visual or hearing/speech impairment.

Beck discusses the need to improve library and information services for the deaf community. The technological support available to libraries to serve the deaf is identified and described. Turnkey systems are found to be lacking in applications devoted to those who cannot hear or who are hard of hearing. Other technologies, like captioned videos, TDDs, and assistive listening systems, are examined for levels of service and excellence as well as cost. Examples of technology in transition and for the future are offered, along with experiments on speech and sound. These include inner ear implants, the “data glove” experiments, and tactile translators. Technological conflicts that may arise due to one person having multiple disabilities are presented with a discussion on the prevention of dangerous or difficult situations. Possible difficulties and ways to handle opposing technologies are examined briefly. Appropriate sections of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Guidelines are grouped with the technologies that aid compliance. Additional laws are mentioned where their inclusion is appropriate. Suggested guidelines for serving the deaf/disabled community are offered for librarians working in all library types.