What is Assistive Technology?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specifically defines assistive technology as "any item, piece of equipment, or product system... that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities." Broadly speaking, assistive technology is an umbrella term used to describe assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices that substitute for or enhance an impaired physical or cognitive ability. Assistive technology enables people with disabilities to perform functions they would otherwise find difficult or impossible to accomplish. Whether in the home, workplace, classroom, and community at large, assistive technology affords people with disabilities greater independence, self-confidence, productivity, and improved integration into the mainstream.
When is it appropriate to use assistive technology?
It may be considered appropriate to utilize assistive technology when it accomplishes any or all of the following:
- Enables the individual to perform functions that can not be achieved otherwise
- Makes it possible for the individual to approximate normal fluency, rate, or standards
- Affords the individual participation in activities that would otherwise be closed to them
- Increases the individual's ability to persevere and complete tasks that would otherwise be too difficult to undertake or finish
- Enables the individual to concentrate on learning or employment tasks, rather than mechanical tasks
- Provides the individual greater access to information
- Supports normal social interactions
- Supports participation in the least restrictive workplace or educational environment
Examples of assistive technology
Assistive technology ranges from simple homemade devices to sophisticated environmental control systems. Examples of assistive technology include, but are not limited to:
- Mobility devices such as walkers and wheelchairs
- Computer keyboards with large keys, enlarged print, and embossed locator dots
- Telecare devices such as fall detectors, thermometers, and flooding and unlit gas sensors
- A microphone coupled with speech recognition software
- Text telephone (TTY)
- RIAS (Remote Infrared Audible Signage)
- Alternative computer input devices such as trackballs, joysticks, graphics tablets, touch pads, touch screens, and foot mice
- Adaptive toys - Braille readers
