Technology and Handicapped People: The Application of Resource Allocation Analytic Techniques to the Rehab System

摘要

The study on Technology and Handicapped People being conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment has been concerned with the methodologies in use assuring the 'appropriateness' of technological decisions. The methodology for assessment of individuals with disabilities has been examined as a technique in its own right which in turn determines the actual plans to be carried out. The methodology for assessment/planning has been found, in many instances, to be ineffective in providing data for proper determination of the training and devices to be prescribed. Still another methodology is now being explored as relevant to the making of appropriate decisions both for the individual user and for society as a whole. Crucial to the planning procedure is a technique by which priorities are set in terms of outcomes to be sought and strategies in the form of technologies to be used. This paper deals with the state-of-the-art of methodology for the allocation of resources as a technical problem. The vocational rehabilitation (VR) system is taken as a case-in-point as the largest of the programs in terms of Federal budgetary allocation and Federal influence.