Research

This is the inaugural SUNspot, a series of short reports that provide preliminary analysis of responses from the Wireless RERC's Survey of User Needs (SUN). This SUNspot provides a view of the use patterns and usability of wireless technology by people with all types of disability.

A summary of the findings from the Wireless RERC's survey on emergency communications and people with disabilities conducted November 2010-January 2011. The survey focused on 3 aspects of emergency communications: 1) contacting 9-1-1 emergency services, 2) receiving, verifying, and passing on public alerts such as weather advisories, 3) use of social media during public emergencies.

This report summarizes the efforts of the Wireless Emergency Communications (WEC) project team in developing and testing the transmission and usability of public emergency alerting via text messaging and cell-phone transmission of video. The team's work revealed a clear benefit of text-messaging and video alerts transmitted from cell towers in affected areas.

The research presented in the handout was conducted by the Wireless RERC and funded by a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).  It provides the background and results of research activities that examined the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to provide messages to people with disabilities.  Specifically, the handout includes comparative analyses of the awareness...