Assistive and adaptive technology

Assistive and adaptive technology comprises specialized equipment and applications that are used to enable people with disabilities and those with age-related functional decline to function effectively in the world. Assistive products, which allow easier completion of tasks and more independence, are sometimes custom designed or modified to serve a particular individual's needs. Examples include mobility devices, such as walkers, wheelchairs, and prostheses. Assistive technology includes screen-reading software, speech synthesizers, and eye-gaze and head-pointing software, among many others. Adaptive devices enable people to work on standard computers or other devices by altering existing equipment. For example, using an alternate keyboard, magnifying a screen, adding more visible colors, or using gesture controls are considered adaptive technologies.

Overview

Until the latter part of the twentieth century, individuals with disabilities were mostly invisible. Often kept at home, sometimes institutionalized, children and adults were routinely excluded from education and employment opportunities, and most public buildings were inaccessible. However, in 1973, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act established that individuals with physical or mental impairments must be protected from discrimination. The law required employers to make reasonable accommodations for workers with physical disabilities and other disorders. The Americans with Disabilities Act, modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, followed in 1990. It mandated accommodations such as wheelchair access to most buildings to ensure access to government programs and services and participation in ordinary daily activities. Once personal computers came into widespread use, they became a vehicle for further inclusion, and technicians developed specialized assistive technology for people with blindness, deafness, and physical disabilities.

Developing Assistive Technology

With the advent of computers and access to the Internet, the worlds of communication, education, services, and activities opened up for people with disabilities. Those who previously could not read because of impaired vision or learning disabilities, who could not write because of paralysis or missing limbs, who could not speak because of injury or muscle degeneration, rapidly gained access to programs and equipment that could help them. However, most technology still required a certain level of physical dexterity and usually the ability to see. The limitations particularly affected those who were blind or who could not manipulate a mouse or type on a keyboard. Technicians and occupational therapists took an interest in adapting computer technology and designed alternate keyboards and adaptive controls to replace standard equipment. Sound clues, joysticks, trackballs, and electronic pointing devices became available, and specialized software provided additional assistance.

Technology for Low-Vision People

Blind people have long used human or canine helpers, Braille text, and recorded books, but they possessed little independence. Increasingly high-tech devices, including text-to-speech programs, began to provide better communication for those with impaired vision. By the twenty-first century, smart phones had taken assistive technology a giant leap forward. Mobile users could access the personal assistant, which responded to verbal instructions and answered the same way, while podcasts, audio books, news, and other information are accessible through voice commands. Equipped with built-in screen readers, GPS mapping and directions, and applications such as text recognition, color and light readers, and UPC and QR code scanners, the technology released blind and low-vision people from constant dependence on others. VizWiz and oMoby apps recognized images and could transmit photos with questions to be answered in real time by volunteers; Aira, a similar app, transmits a live video feed and GPS tracking from the user's smartglasses to a personal assistant, who describes the location to the user and helps them navigate. As of 2018, indoor-mapping and 3D-sensing software capabilities were in development, as was the driverless car, all of which would provide greater independence for many people.

Assistive Technology for Deafness and Hearing Loss

People with impaired hearing waited a long time for assistive technology to meet their needs, according to the National Association of the Deaf. Routine use of closed captioning on television and movies did not become widely available until the late 1990s.

This is one reason people who are deaf or hard of hearing eagerly embraced pagers, videophones, and text messaging when they became available. While teletypewriters (TTY) and other telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) allowed deaf or hard of hearing people to communicate by telephone, widely available relay services later allowed the user to speak to the recipient while incoming messages were read by the person who could not hear. Video phones enabled the use of American Sign Language (ASL), and Skype and Facetime, videoconferencing and instant-messaging web applications, are also useful for people with hearing loss.

Additional software solutions were developed specifically to address the needs of deaf and hard of hearing users. Much like the text-to-speech readers designed for low-vision individuals, the KinTrans program converts ASL recorded via 3D camera to text or voice, and vice versa, improving communication with non-signers. Similarly, the Hearing AI app allows users to visualize, and thus follow, conversational speech and to receive vibration alerts for audible alarms.

Technology for Physically Disabled People

The Americans with Disabilities Act opened doors for people with physical disabilities, and the demand for assistive technology grew. People affected by cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, degenerative diseases, or injuries enjoyed increased independence through technological innovations. Electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters, along with vans equipped with lifts, helped people get around, while the assistive devices added to computers greatly extended access to communication, education, and employment. Instruments including switches, joysticks, and pointing tools were operated by a single finger or were strapped to the head or chin to move the cursor or press keys. Alternate keyboards and touch screens permitted additional access. Advances in sensors have led to devices such as a stabilizing utensil handle and a biofeedback rehabilitation belt that help people with tremors to eat and walk more steadily.

The prominent physicist Dr. Stephen Hawking was disabled by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As his muscles gradually atrophied as a result of the disease, Hawking lost mobility and the ability to speak; yet assistive technology enabled him to continue his research, travel, and writing. Hawking operated his computer using switches controlled by one thumb or by blinking his eyes. He had a sophisticated electric wheelchair and communicated and delivered speeches using a voice synthesizer. Remembered most for his scientific contributions, Hawking also brought such technologies and devices into the mainstream and demonstrating that those with disabilities need not be confined by them.

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