TY - JOUR
T1 - How a diverse research ecosystem has generated new rehabilitation technologies
T2 - Review of NIDILRR's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers
AU - Reinkensmeyer, David J.
AU - Blackstone, Sarah
AU - Bodine, Cathy
AU - Brabyn, John
AU - Brienza, David
AU - Caves, Kevin
AU - DeRuyter, Frank
AU - Durfee, Edmund
AU - Fatone, Stefania
AU - Fernie, Geoff
AU - Gard, Steven
AU - Karg, Patricia
AU - Kuiken, Todd A.
AU - Harris, Gerald F.
AU - Jones, Mike
AU - Li, Yue
AU - Maisel, Jordana
AU - McCue, Michael
AU - Meade, Michelle A.
AU - Mitchell, Helena
AU - Mitzner, Tracy L.
AU - Patton, James L.
AU - Requejo, Philip S.
AU - Rimmer, James H.
AU - Rogers, Wendy A.
AU - Zev Rymer, W.
AU - Sanford, Jon A.
AU - Schneider, Lawrence
AU - Sliker, Levin
AU - Sprigle, Stephen
AU - Steinfeld, Aaron
AU - Steinfeld, Edward
AU - Vanderheiden, Gregg
AU - Winstein, Carolee
AU - Zhang, Li Qun
AU - Corfman, Thomas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/11/6
Y1 - 2017/11/6
N2 - Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a "total approach to rehabilitation", combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970's, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program.
AB - Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a "total approach to rehabilitation", combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970's, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program.
KW - Disability
KW - Rehabilitation engineering
KW - Technology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032982857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85032982857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12984-017-0321-3
DO - 10.1186/s12984-017-0321-3
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29110728
AN - SCOPUS:85032982857
SN - 1743-0003
VL - 14
JO - Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation
JF - Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation
IS - 1
M1 - 109
ER -