Work-Activities and compatible ranges of movement to assess the capability of people with physical disabilities to enhance employability

Abstract

People with Physical Disabilities (PPDs) can effectively contribute towards economic growth by enhancing their employability if their residual physical capabilities are correctly identified. Therefore, the aim of the research was to identify typical manual WAs and RMs of PPDs. The objectives were to identify typical manual WAs in industry and to identify the essential RMs of body regions/joints. The research was carried out in two phases where the typical manual WAs were identified using industrial engineering experts (n=3) and then, essential RM of each body regions and/or joints required to perform WAs were identified using medical experts (n=9). Both phases employed a modified delphi approach for data collection. It was found that only a limited RMs are necessary to carry out the WAs. This could lead to the development of a tool to enable select PPDs for manual work based on their residual capabilities.