Communication of Handicapped Persons in a Multimedia Environment

Abstract:

Cognitive effort resource planning (CERP) is assumed to be a consequence of technical and personal constraints on performance. The object of this study is the repercussion of CERP for communication of handicapped persons under different environmental situations. The situations differ with respect to the more formal aspects of communicative settings such as the media channels that are used. In experimental situations, the occurrence of CERP can be inferred from observed compensation strategies. These strategies seem to be invariant with respect to channel configurations that characterise specific communicative settings. This suggests that persons adapt in a way that is characteristic of their handicap. The implications of this finding for the design of communicative settings for handicapped persons is discussed.