[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 164 (Thursday, August 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-20971]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 25, 1994]


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Part VII





Department of Education





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National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Notice
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

 
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Funding Priorities for Fiscal Years 1995-
1996 for Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers.

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SUMMARY: The Secretary proposes funding priorities for new 
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) under the National 
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for fiscal 
years 1995-1996. The Secretary takes this action to focus research 
attention on areas of national need. These priorities are intended to 
improve rehabilitation services and outcomes for individuals with 
disabilities.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 26, 1994.

ADDRESSES: All comments concerning these proposed priorities should be 
addressed to David Esquith, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland 
Avenue, S.W., Switzer Building, Room 3424, Washington, D.C. 20202-2601.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Esquith. Telephone: (202) 205-
8801. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD) may call the TDD number at (202) 205-5516.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice contains three proposed 
priorities under the RERC program for research on children with 
orthopedic impairments, research on low vision and blindness, and 
research on universal telecommunications access.
    Authority for the RERC program of NIDRR is contained in section 
204(b)(3) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 760-
762). Under this program the Secretary makes awards to public and 
private agencies and organizations, including institutions of higher 
education, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations, to conduct 
research, demonstration, and training activities regarding 
rehabilitation technology in order to enhance opportunities for meeting 
the needs of, and addressing the barriers confronted by, individuals 
with disabilities in all aspects of their lives. An RERC must be 
operated by or in collaboration with an institution of higher education 
or a nonprofit organization.
    These proposed priorities support the National Education Goals that 
call for all children in America to start school ready to learn and for 
every adult American to possess the skills necessary to compete in a 
global economy.
    Under the regulations for this program (see 34 CFR 353.32) the 
Secretary may establish research priorities by reserving funds to 
support particular research activities.
    The Secretary will announce the final priorities in a notice in the 
Federal Register. The final priorities will be determined by responses 
to this notice, available funds, and other considerations of the 
Department. Funding of a particular project depends on the final 
priorities, the availability of funds, and the quality of the 
applications received. The publication of these proposed priorities 
does not preclude the Secretary from proposing additional priorities, 
nor does it limit the Secretary to funding only these priorities, 
subject to meeting applicable rulemaking requirements.

    Note: This notice of proposed priorities does not solicit 
applications. A notice inviting applications under this competition 
will be published in the Federal Register concurrent with or 
following the notice of final priorities.

Description of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center Program

    RERCs carry out research or demonstration activities by: (1) 
Developing and disseminating innovative methods of applying advanced 
technology, scientific achievement, and psychological and social 
knowledge to (a) solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental 
barriers, and (b) study new or emerging technologies, products, or 
environments; (2) demonstrating and disseminating (a) innovative models 
for the delivery of cost-effective rehabilitation technology services 
to rural and urban areas, and (b) other scientific research to assist 
in meeting the employment and independent living needs of individuals 
with severe disabilities; or (3) facilitating service delivery systems 
change through (a) the development, evaluation, and dissemination of 
consumer-responsive and individual and family centered innovative 
models for the delivery to both rural and urban areas of innovative 
cost-effective rehabilitation technology services, and (b) other 
scientific research to assist in meeting the employment and independent 
needs of individuals with severe disabilities.
    The statute requires that each applicant for a grant, including an 
RERC, demonstrate how its proposed activities address the needs of 
individuals from minority backgrounds who have disabilities. Each RERC 
must provide training opportunities to individuals, including 
individuals with disabilities, to become researchers of rehabilitation 
technology and practitioners of rehabilitation technology in 
conjunction with institutions of higher education and nonprofit 
organizations.

General

    The Secretary proposes that the following requirements apply to the 
RERCs pursuant to these absolute priorities unless noted otherwise:
    The RERC (except the RERC on universal telecommunications access) 
must have the capability to design, build, and test prototype devices 
and assist in the transfer of successful solutions to the marketplace. 
The RERC must evaluate the efficacy and safety of its new products, 
instrumentation, or assistive devices.
    The RERC must provide graduate-level research training to build 
capacity for engineering research in the rehabilitation field and to 
provide training in the applications of new technology to service 
providers and to individuals with disabilities and their families.
    The RERC must develop all training materials in formats that will 
be accessible to individuals with various types of disabilities and 
communication modes, and widely disseminate findings and products to 
individuals with disabilities and their families and representatives, 
service providers, manufacturers and distributors, and other 
appropriate target populations.
    The RERC must involve individuals with disabilities, persons from 
minority backgrounds with disabilities and, if appropriate, their 
family members in planning and implementing the research, development, 
and training programs, in interpreting and disseminating the research 
findings, and in evaluating the Center.
    The RERC must share information and data, and, as appropriate, 
collaborate on research and training with other NIDRR-supported 
grantees including, but not limited to, the Americans with Disabilities 
Act (ADA) Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers and 
other related RERCs and RRTCs. The RERC must work closely with the RERC 
on Technology Evaluation and Transfer at the State University of New 
York at Buffalo.

Priority

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3) the Secretary proposes to give an 
absolute preference to applications that meet the following priorities. 
The Secretary proposes to fund under this competition only applications 
that meet these absolute priorities.

Proposed Priority 1: Technology for Children With Orthopedic 
Disabilities

Background

    Children who sustain traumatic injury, congenital anomalies or 
disease-induced anomalies may require prosthetic devices for missing 
limbs and orthotic devices for support and correction. Because children 
are growing rapidly, their prosthetic and orthotic devices must be 
designed to satisfy their special developmental needs. Too often, 
children's devices are scaled-down versions of adult devices.
    New composite materials such as graphite, carbon fiber/carbon 
matrix, and fiber-reinforced ceramics have much to offer in prosthetic 
and orthotic design and practice because they are lightweight and 
durable. These factors are especially important for young children. 
However, composite materials require different manufacturing techniques 
than those used to form metals. The special configurations of these 
devices require special construction methods to produce devices that 
are safe and effective and competitively priced. In addition, most 
composite materials are hard to re-shape once they are made. This 
interferes with the fitting of devices that need to be adjusted for 
each child. Techniques for adjusting the shape of composite material 
devices need to be developed.
    The neuromuscular and musculoskeletal development of growing 
children presents a significant challenge to those practitioners who 
provide children with prosthetic and orthotic devices. The devices must 
meet the prevailing needs of the child as well as adjust to the child's 
physical growth for a reasonably long period of time.
    Most orthotic/prosthetic facilities have difficulty meeting these 
challenges. This is compounded by the fact that children who need these 
services are not evenly distributed throughout the country, and there 
are few service providers in some geographic areas. In addition, some 
practitioners and parents have limited access to a variety of devices. 
As a result, they are not in a position to sample a number of devices 
and select the one that is most appropriate. For example, the electric 
hand often appeals to a parent because it looks and acts like a real 
hand. An experimental fitting and practical comparison may persuade 
parents and child that benefits of hook design outweigh the cosmetic 
appeal of the electric hand. Inexpensive opportunities to try out 
various prostheses need to be increased.

Proposed Priority

    An RERC on technology and children with orthopedic disabilities 
shall--
     Develop and evaluate prosthetic and orthotic devices and 
related orthopedic procedures to meet the changing needs of growing 
children with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal impairments;
     Identify and assess the suitability of materials for use 
in these devices, including composite materials, considering the 
weight, strength, durability, adaptability, techniques of fabrication, 
cost and cosmetic acceptability;
     Develop improved methods for fabricating assistive devices 
for children, including those using composite materials;
     Evaluate the effectiveness of the systems of delivery of 
prosthetic and orthotic devices and closely related assistive 
technology to children with orthopedic impairments and develop 
recommendations to improve the current systems;
     Identify, develop, and evaluate models to enable children 
and families, as well as clinicians, to test prosthetic and orthotic 
devices for suitability prior to purchase;
     Identify the unique barriers to effective service delivery 
for prosthetic and orthotic devices facing families of children with 
orthopedic disabilities from minority backgrounds and develop 
strategies for overcoming those barriers; and
     Develop and implement strategies to increase the 
participation of children with orthopedic impairments and their parents 
in identifying user needs for prosthetic and orthotic devices and 
future areas of research.

Proposed Priority 2: Technology for Low Vision and Blindness Background

    The National Center for Health Statistics and other authorities 
variously estimate the number of legally blind persons in the United 
States at 400,000 to 600,000, with another 1.4 million persons severely 
visually impaired. More than 10 million others have some visual 
impairment that cannot be further improved with corrective lenses. 
There are also large and rapidly increasing numbers of older 
individuals with impairments in contrast, binocularity, and adaptation, 
which significantly limit their performance in a wide variety of 
everyday tasks.
    Technological innovations arising from the development of new 
scientific and medical knowledge can have a positive impact on the 
lives of persons with low vision or blindness. While progress has been 
made regarding educational and vocational aids, optical amplifiers for 
low vision, orientation and mobility aids, and improved functional 
vision assessment, the need remains for improvements in these areas. 
For example, there is a need for new and innovative adaptive devices 
and development of systems engineering solutions to assist in our 
efforts to prepare all children with low vision and blindness to enter 
school ready to learn through early identification, monitoring, and 
treatment of visual impairments in neonates and infants.
    A report of the Technology Research Working Group stemming from the 
NIDRR Project Directors Meeting in January 1994, identified the need 
for technology to improve access to visual displays, including flat 
panel displays and devices that use liquid crystal displays with low 
contrast. Research is also needed to maintain access to new products 
with advancing technology used in the home, workplace, and the 
community, such as solid state displays, keypads, and compact disc 
technology.
    Vision-related research is needed to provide access to public 
facilities and mass transit. One of the main problems for persons who 
are blind or visually impaired is locating the facility in question 
(e.g., the bus stop, the subway entrance, ticket vending machine, 
telephone, bathrooms, etc.), or for orientation and mobility in large 
open areas or closed crowded spaces. New techniques for orientation and 
mobility will increase independent mobility for persons with blindness 
and low vision and decrease dependance on others for information and 
assistance. There is also a need to research, develop, and evaluate new 
and adaptive technology for persons with deaf-blindness, including 
tactile communications for devices such as emergency alarms, doorbells, 
and TDD phones.
    Captioning technology and systems have been developed to provide 
audio information in visual form for persons who are deaf. A need 
exists for these same types of technology and systems to provide visual 
information in audio form for persons who are blind. As technology 
becomes increasingly graphic in nature, especially with the 
proliferation of computer-generated imagery, persons who are blind or 
who have low vision are increasingly at risk of being denied access to 
communication formats that are high in graphic content.
    The feasibility of descriptive video has been investigated 
(Technical Viability of Descriptive Video Services, June 1990, prepared 
for U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education 
Programs). A need exists to advance this technology in order to 
increase utilization of descriptive video by persons with low vision 
and blindness.

Proposed Priority

    An RERC on low vision and blindness shall--
     Develop technology and methods for the detection, 
monitoring, and diagnosis of visual impairments in neonates and 
infants;
     Develop technology and methods for orientation and 
mobility in large open areas, including map reading, or crowded rooms 
for persons with blindness or low vision;
     Develop reduced-cost engineering solutions for increasing 
utilization of descriptive video;
     Develop technology and methods for improving access to 
visual displays, including flat panel displays (e.g., develop an 
adaptive template overlay technology for flat panel displays), found in 
the home, in the community, and at work such as automatic teller 
machines, home appliances, stereo equipment, and other devices that use 
LCD and LED technologies;
     Develop technology to maintain access to new products with 
advancing technology used in the home, workplace, and the community, 
such as solid state displays, keypads, and compact disc technology;
     Develop technology, such as emergency alarms, doorbells, 
and TDD phones, for persons with deaf-blindness to assist them in their 
activities of daily living;
     Develop technology and methods for improving access by 
persons with low vision or blindness to electronic information systems; 
and
     Develop an engineering design review method for 
application to proposed new technology projects that first considers 
commercially available or universal design interfaces before developing 
orphan technology for individuals with low vision and blindness.

Proposed Priority 3: Universal Telecommunications Access Background

    Generally speaking, individuals with communication disabilities are 
those with a hearing, vision, speech, or neurological impairment, or a 
combination of such impairments. This priority proposes a program of 
research to promote greater access to emerging telecommunications 
technology by individuals who have communication disabilities.
    The coming decade is likely to bring advances in the way people 
communicate over distances. Access to greater bandwidth in the 
telephone network will lead to new advances, new devices and new 
services, such as switched video, TV-phones, or voice-to-print (Hinton, 
OSEP Final Report, ``Advanced Technologies for Benefit to Persons with 
Sensory Disabilities,'' 1992). Already low-cost facsimile technology, 
answering machines, and voice mail are changing office communications. 
Computer-based information services abound, and telephones themselves 
are no longer standard. Persons with speech impairments are 
increasingly at a disadvantage with voice recognition and voice mail 
telecommunication systems because they are designed for standard speech 
which is clear and contains prosody information. The employment status, 
social, and family life of persons with disabilities could be affected 
by their access to advances in telecommunications.
    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires private 
employers, State and local governments, employment agencies, labor 
unions, and joint labor-management committees to provide reasonable 
accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, including 
those with communication disabilities. The ADA also requires State and 
local governments and public accommodations to make available auxiliary 
aids and services available where necessary to ensure effective 
communication.
    Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, requires 
the Secretary, through the Director of the National Institute on 
Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and the Administrator of the 
General Services Administration, to ``develop and establish guidelines 
for Federal agencies for electronic and information technology 
accessibility designed to ensure, regardless of the type of medium, 
that individuals with disabilities can produce information and data, 
and have access to information and data, comparable to the information 
and data, and access, respectively, of individuals who are not 
individuals with disabilities.'' Section 508 also provides that the 
guidelines ``shall be revised, as necessary, to reflect technological 
advances or changes.''
    Past efforts in opening up developing technology to include access 
for persons with communication disabilities have been retrospective 
rather than prospective. Too frequently telecommunications technologies 
are developed and become widely used before consumers who have 
communication disabilities become aware of the barriers they 
inadvertently contain. There is a need to affect the development of 
telecommunications technology, regulations, and standards in order to 
promote the incorporation of universal design features. Furthermore, 
there is a need to communicate information routinely to appropriate 
researchers, manufacturers, and other major contributors to 
communication technology that will contribute to the development of 
accessible telecommunications devices and systems. The need for special 
customer-premised equipment will be reduced when international 
standards include features that make general-market products accessible 
to persons with communications disabilities.
    Technological advances in the field of telecommunications, both in 
this country and internationally, have the potential to represent 
either new opportunities to disabled people or new barriers. This 
proposed RERC shall work closely with developers and manufacturers to 
enhance awareness of how emerging telecommunications developments can 
be modified to incorporate features that are directly responsive to the 
special needs of individuals with communication disabilities.
    Applicants for this priority must demonstrate knowledge of the 
history and present roles of various Government agencies in 
telecommunications and electronic equipment accessibility, such as 
NIDRR, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the General 
Services Administration (GSA), the Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Telecommunications 
Information Administration (NTIA). Applicants must also demonstrate a 
knowledge of other NIDRR-funded programs studying issues of persons 
with communications impairments as well as related information 
databases, private national and international organizations, such as 
the United States Telephone Association and the Telecommunications 
Industries Association and the International Telecommunication Union's 
Technology unit (ITU-T).

Proposed Priority

    An RERC on universal telecommunications access shall--
     Undertake a systems engineering analysis of emerging 
telecommunications technology (such as signal compression, analog to 
digital systems transitions, satellite transmission, development of a 
national information infrastructure, telecommunity living, voice-to-
print, Mosaic and Windows multimedia interfaces, etc.) to identify 
potential technological barriers and marketplace disincentives for 
persons with communication disabilities, and, based on these analyses, 
identify and develop universal design strategies to avoid these 
barriers;
     Develop an engineering design review methodology for 
dissemination to designers that encourages universal access designs in 
the development of technology;
     Develop or evaluate innovative applications of 
telecommunication technology to enable individuals with disabilities to 
be more independent at home, in the community, and at work, including, 
but not limited to, voice mail, videophones, cellular phones, 
descriptive video, speech clarification, etc;
     Identify and develop accessible design characteristics for 
telecommunications technology and services and provide appropriate 
industries and agencies with the results of this research;
     Develop engineering test methods and labeling requirements 
to facilitate development of improved technical specifications to 
enhance accessibility in equipment, services, signaling, transmission, 
and other aspects of telecommunications, with immediate emphasis on 
improving relay devices and cooperating with agencies responsible for 
national and international and other industry group standards;
     Develop model training programs and materials on the use 
and capacities of new and emerging telecommunications technologies; and
     In the second year of the grant, investigate applications 
of telecommunications technology to improve access to mainstream 
educational programming for students with disabilities, especially 
students in economically disadvantaged areas.

Invitation To Comment

    Interested persons are invited to submit comments and 
recommendations regarding this proposed priority. All comments 
submitted in response to this notice will be available for public 
inspection, during and after the comment period, in Room 3424, Switzer 
Building, 330 C Street S.W., Washington, D.C., between the hours of 
9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday of each week except 
Federal holidays.

Applicable Program Regulations

    34 CFR Parts 350 and 353.

    Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 760-762.

    Dated: August 22, 1994.
Judith E. Heumann,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number 84.133E, 
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers).

[FR Doc. 94-20971 Filed 8-24-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P