Previous research shows that the self-reliance of physically impaired people can be seriously jeopardized by their inability to operate controls on everyday products. In the research reported in this paper a study is made into the operational difficulties faced by people suffering from Parkinson's disease, from spasticism, from visual impairments, and by physically non-impaired subjects.
This paper reports the forces that can be exerted by these subjects, the way they actually manipulate controls, and the operational difficulties the subjects experience including both the force exertion and other operational difficulties. Finally, design implications are briefly looked into.
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