Atul Jaiswal

Université de Montréal | UdeM · School of Optometry

Around 1.5 million Canadians live with some form of vision impairment. The demand for vision rehabilitation (VR) services is projected to increase as the number of older adults with age-related vision loss rises. To inform programmes and policies for VR, we aimed to answer two research questions: (1) How are VR services delivered in Canada? and (2)...

Introduction: There is an increasing emphasis on recovery-oriented care in the design and delivery of mental health services. Research has demonstrated that recovery-oriented services are understood differently depending on the stakeholders involved. Variations in interpretations of recovery lead to challenges in creating systematically organized e...

Background: A recent global report estimates around 2% of the world population (~150 million people) to have concurrent hearing and vision difficulties (referred to as dual sensory impairment/DSI). Older adults with DSI often experience poorer levels of health and barriers to accessing health services in long-term care, home care and hospitals. Yet...

Background Deafblindness, also known as dual sensory loss, is a varying combination of visual and hearing impairment in the same individual. Interest in this topic has increased recently due to evidence suggesting an increase in prevalence of this condition among older adults. Persons with deafblindness frequently experience participation barriers...

Introduction: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), developed by the World Health Organization, is a classification framework that focuses on the health and functioning of people with disabilities. As part of an ICF Core Set development, four studies need to be conducted, one of which is a systematic review...

Introduction The occurrence of age-related vision changes is inevitable. However, some of these changes can become pathological. Research indicates that vision and hearing loss is correlated with age-related cognitive decline, and with a higher risk of developing dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. Low vision rehabilitation could possibly be a pro...

Background and Objectives A global report estimates up to 2% of the world population experience concurrent hearing and vision impairment (dual sensory impairment/DSI). Older adults with DSI are often frequent users of healthcare, yet the evidence is limited to inform care delivery for this population. This systematic review aimed to synthesize evid...

Background In the general population, sensory impairments increase markedly with age in adults over 60 years of age. We estimated the prevalence of hearing loss only (HL), vision loss only (VL), and a combined impairment (i.e., dual sensory loss or DSL) in Canadians receiving home care (HC) or long-term care (LTC). Methods Annual cross-sectional a...

The COVID-19 pandemic magnified pre-existing socioeconomic, operational, and structural challenges in long-term care (LTC) settings across the world and led to decreased availability and accessibility of unpaid caregiver (UC) support in LTC. UCs are essential to support resident health and reduce work burden of formal health care staff. Compounding...

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a promising tool to produce assistive technology. For instance, individuals with deafblindness (concurrent vision and hearing loss) could benefit from tactile AM-based products as touch may be their main gateway to access information. This study thus aimed to synthesize evidence on the curr...

Introduction: Academic writing is a core element of a successful graduate program, especially at the doctoral level. Graduate students are expected to write in a scholarly manner for their thesis and scholarly publications. However, in some cases, limited or no specific training on academic writing is provided to them to do this effectively. As a r...

Introduction Around 1.1 million older Canadians live with combined hearing and vision impairment (dual sensory loss/DSL). Evidence highlights that they are at a high risk of cognitive impairment, functional decline, social isolation, falls, depression, and mortality. Compared to their non-DSL peers, older adults with DSL experience various challeng...

Healthcare policy reform is evident when considering the past, present and future of long-term care (LTC) in Canada. Some of the most pressing issues facing the LTC sector include the changing demographic composition in Canadian LTC homes, minimal consideration for the role of intersectionality in LTC data collection and analysis, and the expanding...

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of hearing disability on employment rates; examine how various factors are associated with employment; and identify workplace accommodations available to persons with hearing disabilities in Canada. Material and methods: A population-based analysis was done using the data collected...

Introduction The authors of this paper have compiled a report on the prevalence of deafblindness and dual-sensory loss based on the review of existing estimates. The purpose is to inform readers of the importance of using consistent, well-researched definitions and survey questions in future prevalence studies. Methods Articles were extracted thro...

Background Individuals with deafblindness experience a combination of hearing and vision impairments. The World Health Organization has developed a global framework referred to as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to describe health and functioning. From the full ICF classification, a selection of categori...

Background Individuals with deafblindness experience a combination of hearing and vision impairments. The World Health Organization has developed a global framework referred to as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to describe health and functioning. From the full ICF classification, a selection of categori...

Background Age‐related sensory loss is a significant yet understudied public health problem. Evidence suggests that sensory loss in older adults is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment, functional decline, and social isolation. However, older adults with combined vision and hearing impairment (dual sensory impairment/DSI) are o...

Background Older adults with dual sensory impairment (DSI/combined hearing and visual impairment), are more likely to obtain poorer scores on cognitive tests. Whether these results are due to poor cognitive function or inappropriate or absent adaptation of test administration for sensory impaired older adults is unclear. Given that this population...

Background The concurrent loss of vision and hearing, termed dual sensory impairment (DSI), can have a significant impact on one’s functioning. Evidence is emerging on the prevalence of DSI in the older population, including those with cognitive impairment (CI). In the context of an ageing population with increasing prevalence of DSI, we aimed to s...

Research Objectives To identify ways to enhance the social participation of individuals with deafblindness or dual sensory impairment. Design The exploratory study involved a scoping study followed by two qualitative research studies. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with 16 adults with deafblindness, as well as through two focus...

Introduction: As the prevalence of age-related sensory impairment increases, more evidence emerges on the association between uni-sensory and cognitive impairment (CI) in older adults. However, the link between CI and concurrent hearing and vision impairment (referred to as dual sensory impairment/DSI) is not well-understood, and this combined effe...

3D printing has become an affordable and accessible technology. It is now popular among hobbyists as well as in education, where it is used by many teachers to produce S.T.E.M. material. In the field of rehabilitation, 3D printing is also viewed as a promising technology due to its customizability. Indeed, 3D printed objects are suitable to fulfill...

Objective: This scoping review aims to synthesize evidence on the practices involving additive manufacturing, also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, as a rehabilitation tool to assist individuals with deafblindness or vision impairment, and to identify which International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) domains of...

Objective To synthesize evidence on existing informed consent/assent strategies and processes that enable the participation of individuals with deafblindness or dual sensory impairment in research. Data Sources Five scientific databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and PsycINFO) and other sources such as Google Scholar, the Journal of...

Despite the impressive aggregate growth of India as a developing nation in the past few years, its benefits have hardly reached the marginalized sections of the society, including people with disabilities. Vulnerability and conditions of poverty are still prevalent which make them the most abject under-served populations. The role of civil society...

DeafBlind Ontario Services (DBOS) is a not-for-profit organization that provides accessible residential and customized support services across the province of Ontario, Canada. This article is based on the report of a project consultation commissioned by DBOS from May 1, 2019, to July 30, 2019, to inform the organizational advocacy strategy. It summ...

The World Health Organization reports more than one billion people live with a disability of which over 200 million individuals have a disability that affects their functioning. Sensory disabilities like deafblindness affect an individual’s functioning and health due to challenges in communication, mobility, and accessing information. Despite a gro...

Purpose: Deafblindness, also known as dual sensory loss, creates a distinct condition more disabling than either deafness or blindness alone. The participation experiences of persons with deafblindness have not been understood well. This phenomenological study aims to understand the meanings of participation for persons with deafblindness and ident...

Introduction: The proportion of older adults with combined acquired vision and hearing impairments (referred to as Dual Sensory Impairment/DSI) is growing, and their unique care needs are beginning to receive increased attention. Considering the age-related demographic shift, one million older adults in Canada are expected to experience DSI by 2036...

Evidence to inform rehabilitation service delivery for individuals with deafblindness, especially in the Indian context, is inadequate. Rehabilitation professionals often find it challenging to design rehabilitation interventions that promote participation for those with deafblindness. Therefore, our purpose was to understand the contextual factors...

Evidence to inform rehabilitation service delivery for individuals with deafblindness, especially in the Indian context, is inadequate. Rehabilitation professionals often find it challenging to design rehabilitation interventions that promote participation for those with deafblindness. Therefore, our purpose was to understand the contextual factors...

BACKGROUND Age-related vision impairment and dementia both become more prevalent with increasing age. Research into the mechanisms of these conditions has proposed that some of their causes (e.g., macular degeneration/glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease) could be symptoms of an underlying common cause, or may be equally linked to a multifactorial cont...

Background Age-related vision impairments and dementia both become more prevalent with increasing age. Research into the mechanisms of these conditions has proposed that some of their causes (eg, macular degeneration/glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease) could be symptoms of an underlying common cause. Research into sensory-cognitive aging has provided...

This article provides an overview of the historical and contemporary positioning of occupational science and its relevance to practicing occupational therapists. Occupational science is intended to provide a complex understanding of humans as occupational beings and to develop theories and concepts relevant to understanding human occupation and th...

Objective: To identify and describe the contextual factors that influence the participation of people with deafblindness in India. Design: Qualitative study, using directed content analysis approach and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a framework to analyze the data. Setting: Community and social...

Background: Various injury characteristics such as cause, level, severity, and time since injury divide individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) into many subgroups. The heterogeneity among individuals' injuries and personal characteristics has significant implications for SCI rehabilitation practice, specifically directed toward community reinteg...

Inclusive Community-based Rehabilitation (iCBR) is a project developed based on the WHO CBR guidelines during a two-year fellowship project in rural areas of Maharashtra, India. This paper reflects upon the key challenges and lessons learned during the implementation of the iCBR project, which sought to empower persons with disabilities and enhance...

PRISMA 2009 checklist. (DOC)

Open Access (OA) is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment (SPARC 2016). Simply put, it is a means to provide access to the scientific literature to anyone in any part of the world at no charge to the user. There is a push from Canada’s Tri-Agency...

Background and purpose Dissemination of research results is a key component of the research continuum and is commonly achieved through publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. However, issues of poor quality reporting in the research literature are well documented. A lack of formal training in journalology (i.e., publication science) may con...

People with concurrent vision and hearing impairments, referred to as deafblind, are often overlooked in vision and hearing research. Existing research on deafblindness (Db) has been limited to investigations of characteristics of individuals, their impairments, and its impact using proxies (parents or professionals) to understand the experiences o...

People with concurrent vision and hearing impairments, referred to as deafblind, are often overlooked in vision and hearing research 1,2. Existing research on deafblindness (Db) has been limited and suggest that persons with Db experience participation barriers and social isolation in their lives, yet little has been documented about contextual fac...

The purpose of this study is to systematically review published evidence regarding the development, use and effectiveness of assistive devices and technologies that enable internet access for individuals who are deafblind. Eight electronic research databases (CINAHL, Embase, Engineering Village MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web o...

This article highlights the dearth of research in the field of deafblindness from low- and middle-income countries such as India, and why it is necessary to include people with deafblindness in mainstream research.

Comprehensive Scoping review report of Canadian laws for people with disabilities at federal, provincial, and territorial levels.

Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action in Armed Conflict Conditions: Why and How

Sense International (India), also known as Sense India, is the first and only nationallevel organisation working in 23 states. Through a network of 57 partner organisations, Sense India has supported over 71,500 persons with deafblindness and multi-sensory impairment in the last nineteen years. This paper examines the strengths and challenges of th...

Global Public Health Policy Responses to Rising Incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases: An Unending War

Full article content is available online on Global Disability Watch - http://globaldisability.org/2016/10/06/poverty-migration-disability-india-challenges-change

Understanding of and Best Practices for Academic Integrity in Canadian Universities

This is a poster presentation The Nineteenth Annual Scientific Meeting for Health Science Research Trainees.

Purpose: This paper aimed to demonstrate how participatory action research (PAR) within a Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) project facilitated community participation to advocate for the rights of people with visual impairment. An advocacy campaign, led by the local people with and without disabilities, was launched for the construction of an a...

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), a premier institute in the country working since 1936 in the field of social work. EdelGive Foundation is the strategic philanthropic arm of the Edelweiss Group, one of India's leading financial services companies, by leveraging the capacity and capital of the for-profit world to equip and enable the so...