Assistive Technology

International News

In search of a prosthetic revolution: from charity to investment.

“It is not just money that is needed. A huge amount of time is involved in making prosthetic limbs, in particular because they are a feat of engineering and science. I can spend anywhere between one to four years getting a new leg made and people wonder why I have to be so careful not to gain or lose weight: if my leg does not fit, I have to spend a huge amount of time in clinics having a new one made. The process is slow, open to error, and sadly can take a lot of time to get right. All these things can really impact people’s mental health, especially if anyone has fluctuating weight and their limb simply does not fit. These are the added pressures faced by so many amputees and prosthetic limb users on a daily basis.” (Nov, ATscale)

Bridging divides: The role of inclusive technology for learners with disabilities. (Nov, Global Partnership on Education)

Assistive Technology Digest a quarterly publication “with the objective of increasing awareness about the possibilities offered by assistive technology as experienced by its users.” (Sep, IDA)

How sovereign funds could empower the future of assistive technology and disability AI (Aug, World Economic Forum)

AI Revolution: Paralyzed Woman ‘Speaks’ via Digital Avatar (Aug, Neuroscience News)

Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings “The results of this analysis demonstrate the paramount importance of community-based repair of devices, and how despite this importance, repair is often overlooked in the planning and design of assistive products and services.” (Jul, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology)

How the wheelchair opened up the world to millions of people Wheelchairs have existed since the invention of the wheel. But technological advances have revolutionized the way that people use them. (Jul, National Geographic)

GDI Hub, Google and AT Scale launch pioneering project to test ‘Mobile at Assistive Tech’ in Kenya, Brazil and India. (Jun, Global Disability Innovation Hub)

WHO releases new Wheelchair provision guidelines (Jun, WHO)

Integrating rehab and assistive technology into health systems. How can rehabilitation and health system stakeholders agree on priorities for integrating rehabilitation and AT into health systems? Shared prioritization and planning local actions. (Jun, ReLAB-HS)

‘Care bots’: a dream for carers or a dangerous fantasy? (May, the Guardian)

Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain–spine interface: “a digital bridge between the brain and spinal cord that enabled an individual with chronic tetraplegia to stand and walk naturally in community settings” (May, Nature)

Envision Adds ChatGPT AI Sight Assistance To Its Smart Glasses For The Blind (Apr, Forbes)

Sony launches point-and-shoot camera for people with vision disabilities. (Mar, Disability Insider)

HearX hearing care by community health workers using digital technologies. (Feb, AT2030)

AT Venture Fund Playbook “This playbook was designed to help current and future fund operators and ventures learn from the work of the Assistive Technology Impact Fund (ATIF). It aims to share lessons from launching a fund in a nascent sector and working with a small portfolio of assistive technology ventures.” (Jan, AT Impact Fund)

COVID-19, access and assistive technology: The need for preparedness (2022, Global Social Policy)

A new book on Prosthetics and Assistive Technology in Ancient Greece and Rome. (2022, Cambridge University Press)

The Greatest beautiful music video showing people using assistive digital technology. (2022, Apple)

Digital Planet audio feature on is disability tech delivering? (no transcript, 2022, BBC)

Making the direct to consumer model work for Assistive Technology warns about the “unintended consequences” of assitive technology relying on charity:

“AT distribution that depends on charitable and philanthropic funding are highly vulnerable to financial cuts and changes in priorities. What’s more, AT distribution cannot be a one-off event like a vaccination camp. Distributed AT must be maintained, adapted and changed as the needs of the user change. Few charitable models are able to accommodate such a model- over time, people can be left with AT that is no longer fit for purpose, and disillusioned as to its value.” (2022, AT2030)

Marketing Matters on how AT startups need to invest in marketing (2022, AT2030)

The Global Report on Assistive Technology: a new era in assistive technology (2022, Assistive Technology)

Needed by one and three and me: assistive technology in my own life and in a global context, with wheelchair cameos by the Pope and Queen of England. (2022, Disability Debrief)

Interesting discussion on Center for Inclusive Policy on Why is access to assistive technology not a global priority? (2022, CIP)

Global Report on Assistive Technology. From the press release:

“More than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition. Yet nearly one billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where access can be as low as 3% of the need for these life-changing products.” (2022, WHO and UNICEF)

A scoping review of Technologies Measuring Manual Wheelchair Propulsion Metrics (2022, Assistive Technology)

What do you call technology that's meant to be assistive but isn't? This essay explores the term Disability Dongle coined by Liz Jackson to refer to well intended but useless “solutions“. The essay explores experience of what happens when the authors call out these technologies and how their idea has spread. (2022, Platypus)

TIDAL N+ "Transformative Innovation in the delivery of Assisted Living Products and Services" - "building a transdisciplinary network" (2022, GDI)

For every dollar invested in assistive technology, there is a return of $9 (2022, IDA)

A systematic review of global population-based research Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products. “The finding of high unmet need (>60%) for each of the five APs emphasises the need to secure political prioritisation and funding to expand access to AT globally.” (2022, BMJ Global Health)

Measuring assistive technology supply and demand a scoping review (2021, Assistive Technology Journal)

UNICEF to introduce 24 new assistive products into the global Supply Catalogue. "Through global tenders, UNICEF and WHO have been able to negotiate low-cost prices which will ensure these highly technical and specialized pieces of equipment can be quickly and easily ordered by field teams, partners, and governments." (2021, UNICEF)

Introduction to the companion papers to the global report on assistive technology (2021, Assistive Technology Journal)

A new book Disability Interactions: Creating Inclusive Innovations "focuses on the interactions people have with their technologies and the interactions which result because of technology use" (2021, GDI Hub)

Evidence brief on promoting access to assistive technology for individuals with disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Settings. "Limited access to assistive technology is exacerbated by the lack of awareness about assistive technology and what the technology can offer to people with disabilities". (2021, Disability Evidence Portal)

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Asia-Pacific

Meeting rising demand for disability devices. “Limited access to assistive technologies such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, mobility and communication devices, and a lack of trained workers remain significant challenges in meeting the needs of people with disabilities and the elderly in the Asia Pacific region.” (2022, Eco-Business)

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Africa

Emerging African Ecosystems for assistive technology: “companies must not only be an expert in AT (not an easy feat), but also need to master financing, hiring, logistics and distribution, warehousing, both physical and digital advertising, customer services”. (2022, AT2030)

Assistive Technology Innovate Now launch of its 5th Cohort on Digital AT and Entrepreneurship (2022, AT Innovate Now)

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Kenya

Recommendations from a research study on inclusive education and assistive technology: “tax exemption on assistive technology would contribute to the development of education targeting learners with disabilities.” (Feb, NewTimes)

Self-taught Kenyan cousins invent bio-robotic prosthetic limbs. (Jan, Mail&Guardian)

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Malawi

AgriLab model is rolled out in Malawi to co-design assistive technology (Oct, Spark)

Relevance of assistive technology and the sustainable development goals to stakeholder organizations. “The cross-cutting nature of the relevance of AT underscores the importance of cross-ministerial cooperation and shared leadership in provision AT.” (2022, Global Health Action)

Age related increase in impairment across the life course: the use of Zomba curves to estimate assistive technology needs. (2022)

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Rwanda

UNICEF supplies hundreds of children with life-changing hearing aids “UNICEF was able to significantly reduce the prices for these quality devices, providing them to the Government of Rwanda for $118. At this point in time, the same hearing aid can cost as much as $2,000 if buying it commercially within Rwanda.” (2022, UNICEF)

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South Africa

The effects of cognitive effort on academic performance of learners with cochlear implants. “The study highlights that cognitive effort of learners with cochlear implants influenced their capabilities to multitask and retain information”. (2022, African Journal on Disability)

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Azerbaijan

How WHO is supporting Azerbaijan in improving rehabilitation and assistive technology services (2022, WHO)

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China

Young people in Guangzhou commute in electric wheelchairs as e-bikes face tighter rules. ‘The electric wheelchair “saves effort and is flexible, and you can ‘drive’ directly to your destination without having to find a parking space”’ (Jul, The Straits Times)

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Georgia

Nina’s story: How assistive technology is improving her quality of life (2022, WHO)

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India

Maiden wheelchair insurance a step towards transforming disability sector (Aug, The Tribune)

Who Pays the Price When Cochlear Implants Go Obsolete? “Some cochlear implant users can’t afford to keep up with compulsory technology upgrades. After becoming dependent on the devices, they’re losing their hearing and feel abandoned by manufacturers.” (Mar, Sapiens)

Food Delivery Service With A Difference: This Motorised Wheelchair “Gives Wings To People With Disabilities” (2022, NDTV)

Sensory Futures: Deafness and Cochlear Implant Infrastructures in India:

“In this book, I attend to becoming normal, specifically in relation to sensory normality. I argue that normalization leads to, and is a form of, narrowing. Becoming normal—a key promise of cochlear implant technology—constrains people’s sensory, modal, and relational engagements. Normative sensory configurations and communicative practices based on listening and spoken language are the desired outcomes after cochlear implantation. These desired outcomes are tethered to ideas and ideals about a “right way” to sense, communicate, and relate to others. The Indian state, families of deaf children, medical professionals, and educators, among other stakeholders, increasingly expect that these normative outcomes will occur. They work to foreclose other outcomes for deaf individuals, such as becoming sign language users or orienting to others through vision and touch. As cochlear implants become more ubiquitous in India, sensory, modal, and relational possibilities for deaf children and those with whom they engage diminish. Sensory normality, as a desired goal and outcome, results in a contraction rather than an expansion of ways of engaging with the world.” (2022, Manifold)

From Hoping to Expecting: Cochlear Implantation and Habilitation in India (2022, Cultural Anthropology)

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Indonesia

Assistive Technologies for Children with Disabilities in Inclusive and Special Schools in Indonesia (May, World Bank)

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Pakistan

‘Without a wheelchair my life would be useless’: Zahida Quereshi, whose organization provides thousands of custom wheelchairs. (2022, the Guardian)

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Turkey

New tech glasses made in Türkiye aim to benefit persons with disability. (Jan, Daily Sabah)

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Yemen

War leads to demand for prosthetics. (2022, Reuters)

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Europe

A scoping review of assistive technology needs, access and coverage and related barriers and facilitators. “The three key elements significantly affecting the capacity of AT systems to deliver appropriate services to potential users were the relative accessibility of the systems themselves, their financial affordability for users and the acceptability of different APs.” (2022, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology)

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Italy

Disability, Rehabilitation, and Assistive Technologies for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Italy: Policies and Challenges. “The lack of a standardized vulnerability assessment represents the main barrier to the organization of specific services for migrants within the community.” (Mar, Societies)

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Ukraine

List of prostheses manufacturers compiled in Ukraine. (Oct, Yahoo! News)

Ukrainian soldiers benefit from U.S. prosthetics expertise but their war is different. (Feb, NPR)

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United Kingdom

Assistive Technology Changes Lives: an assessment of AT need and capacity in England:

“There was a notable lack of joined up thinking, and missed opportunity for holistic AT delivery that considered the whole individual, across their life-course and diverse needs. Many people were found to be waiting months - and even years - to access essential AT products, while discussions over who would fund what prevailed.” (Jun, Global Disability Innovation Hub)

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Vatican City

Pope Francis uses wheelchair in public for the first time (2022, the Guardian)

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United States

Wheelchair Profiteering: A series, starting with How the For-Profit Industry Makes Money:

“If your goal is to sell wheelchairs to poor cash buyers without health insurance, then it makes sense to treat the wheelchair like a commodity. Since commodities are interchangeable, the seller with the lowest price gets the highest sales volume. If your goal is to sell wheelchairs to wealthy buyers or people with health insurance, then it makes sense to treat your wheelchair like a custom prosthesis and create wheelchairs with the highest profit margins.” (Nov, Erik Kondo)

How deaf fans of opera can feel the music with Lyric Opera’s new shirt “A pilot program at Lyric Opera of Chicago aims to tailor the opera experience by offering wearable technology to patrons” (Nov, Washington Post)

Long wheelchair repair times spur effort to get Massachusetts to act (Oct, Boston Globe)

A Flexible Interface for Single-Switch Users A Usability Study of Nomon:

“Many individuals with severe motor impairments communicate via a single switch—which might be activated by a blink, facial movement, or puff of air. These switches are commonly used as input to scanning systems that allow selection from a 2D grid of options. Nomon is an alternative interface that provides a more flexible layout, not confined to a grid.” (Oct, Assets Conference)

A football helmet for deaf and hard of hearing quarterbacks unveiled by AT&T and Gallaudet University. “It allows a coach to call a play on a tablet from the sideline that then shows up visually on a small display screen inside the quarterback’s helmet.” (Oct, ABC News)

Hearing Aids Are Changing. “As more young people risk hearing loss, over-the-counter hearing aids are providing new options, but also confusing choices.” (May, New York Times)

A Bride’s Prosthesis Made Not to Blend In, but to Shine. (Jan, New York Times)

This researcher builds ‘cool stuff for blind people.’ He’s also trying to help transform society. (2022, PBS)

3D printing allows blind chemists to visualise scientific data. (2022, Chemistry World)

Elderly and Disabled Assistive Devices Market Size report by Acumen (2022, Global Newswire)

Disability At Home practical solutions and photographs that “document the ingenuity and creativity that caregivers and disabled people, including those with chronic illnesses, use every day to make home accessible.” (2022, Laura Mauldin)

This is old, but I liked seeing this wheelchair kitted-out to plow snow with tracks and an attached blade. (2016, WOWT 6 News)

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Australia

Smart glasses that play sounds help people who are blind find objects. (Oct, New Scientist)

Impacts of new and emerging assistive technologies for ageing and disabled housing. Exploring smart home assistive technologies.. (2021)

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New Zealand

The everyday technologies essential for accessibility four disabled people on the tech they consider essential. (Sep, The Spinoff)

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