Hispanics' Awareness of Assistive Technology

ABSTRACT

This study compared Hispanics' awareness of services available to acquire assistive technology and whether they actually sought help to the findings from a national sample. The study assists the field by providing information on a group largely ignored in the literature. The authors sought to answer the following research questions: Are there intergroup differences between Hispanics with disabilities and non-Hispanics with disabilities in terms of how they receive help accessing AT services? and Are there intragroup differences among Hispanics with respect to how they receive help and their awareness of available help to acquire AT? The findings suggest a large disparity between awareness of available services to acquire assistive technology and actual receipt of such services. In addition, although similar patterns were found, the Hispanics from the national sample appear more aligned with the overall sample, while the Hispanics from the Hispanic-only sample seem to be using services at higher percentages.

KEYWORDS:

• assistive technology
• awareness
• Hispanics
• persons with disabilities

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We kindly acknowledge the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America for granting access to the national data sets and Nell Bailey (RESNA) and Dr. Nathan Ehrlich from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research for granting permission to use the data sets. The AT/IT Survey and “Pilot Testing the Assistive Technology Needs of Latinos with Disabilities” were conducted with funds from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.