Usability and adaptibility of personal mobile devices (PMD) for street vendors with physical impairments

Persons with physical impairments have limited regenerative abilities and mostly limited to some scope that they are able and unable to do and their participation in the activities are restricted. In Selangor, statistics show the increase number of registered people with disabilities and unemployed...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kamaruddin, Zumahiran, Ab Jalil, Nurlelawati
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/62493/1/Combined%20PICCWED-ZK.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/62493/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia
Language: English
Description
Summary:Persons with physical impairments have limited regenerative abilities and mostly limited to some scope that they are able and unable to do and their participation in the activities are restricted. In Selangor, statistics show the increase number of registered people with disabilities and unemployed due to their limitations and restricted accessibility. They should enjoy independent life and have jobs, for example, by venturing into small medium entrepreneur sector. The role of entrepreneurship has become growing attention in the nation, especially in boosting income generation which is aligned with the current government agenda in development plan and the people with disabilities should not be left out from this agenda. Many forms of personal mobile devices have been introduced to overcome their difficulties. However, the usability of the devices and the ability of the users to adopt the devices are uncertain. This research aims to understand the potential of using mobile device as independent assistant for the users, especially for the street vendors with physical impairments. The objective of the research is to determine the potential criteria of usability of mobile devices for working environment of the vendors in small medium entrepreneur sector. The discussions are based on reviews of related researches and literatures from different sources that were published over the past decade. The data also were collected by interviewing a group of people with physical disability and on-site observation. A group of personal mobile devices was identified including independent wheelchair assistant, robotic wheelchair and wheelchair motorcycle. The results suggest that the device helps users independently access their local communities in some way, but there were several potential usability requirements and adaptability need to be explored. On the basis of the findings, further research to formulate design guidelines for the assistant mobile device for street vendor with physical impairment is exigency.