What is Assistive Technology?
Audio ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY — AIDS AND EQUIPMENT “Assistive technology” is a fancy name for equipment or other helpful things that make it easier for you do an activity. Certain kinds of aids or equipment make activities easier to do. For example, lots of people wear glasses to help them see better. Many older people wear hearing aids. A shorter person might use a step stool to reach a cupboard. People who work at computers all day often use special keyboards to keep them from becoming uncomfortable. Some types of aids and equipment are made especially for people with disabilities. Adaptive aids can be “low-tech,” like a white cane for a blind person, or “high-tech,” like computer equipment that can help that same person read a printed book. If you have problems moving, seeing, hearing, speaking, reading, remembering, or learning, you’ll want to think about the kinds of aids and equipment that will make things easier.
AT makes it possible for a person with a disability to perform tasks and participate in everyday activities in different ways. It is any item, or piece of equipment, that helps a person do something that his or her age appropriate peers can do without the assistance. Examples: A wheelchair used for mobility, a communication device to speak, digitized books or Braille to read, hearing aides to hear, or an oversized switch to activate a toy. (Click here for the legal definition http://section508.gov/docs/AT1998.
I am always meeting people who have never heard of assistive technology. I am an occupational therapist and I teach people with disabilities, as well as other professionals, about assistive technology. I will use this opportunity to share some of that basic information with you. My additional purpose is to persuade you that Assistive Technology truly “opens the door” to life for people with disabilities. Assistive Technology helps to compensate for the effects of disability-loss of speech, paralysis, incoordination, visual impairment, weakness, cognitive problems – in an active and positive manner. It places the focus not on what is lost but on what is possible…what is constructive…what can be done! Assistive Technology refers to the devices that can be used by persons with sensory, motor and cognitive limitations to achieve greater independence and self-reliance. Typically assistive technology (AT) refers to those devices that are designed with electronics, microprocessors and hig
