Your browser does not support JavaScript!
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com
1887

access icon openaccess Disrupting the world of Disability: The Next Generation of Assistive Technologies and Rehabilitation Practices

© The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Received 26/10/2016, Accepted 31/10/2016, Published 07/12/2016

Designing, developing and deploying assistive technologies at a scale and cost which makes them accessible to people is challenging. Traditional models of manufacturing would appear to be insufficient at helping the world's 1 billion disabled people in accessing the technologies they require. In addition, many who receive assistive technologies simply abandon them as they do not meet their needs. In this study the authors explore the changing world of design for disability. A landscape which includes the rise of the maker movement, the role of ubiquitous sensing and the changing role of the ‘user’ to one of designer and maker. The authors argue they are on the cusp of a revolution in healthcare provision, where the population will soon have the ability to manage their own care with systems in place for diagnosis, monitoring, individualised prescription and action/reaction. This will change the role of the clinician from that of diagnostician, gatekeeper and resource manager/deliverer to that of consultant informatics manager and overseer; perhaps only intervening to promote healthy behaviour, prevent crisis and react at flash moments.

Inspec keywords: patient rehabilitation; health care; medical disorders; patient monitoring; patient diagnosis

Other keywords: diagnosis; maker movement; rehabilitation practices; individualised prescription; assistive technologies; disabled people; monitoring; ubiquitous sensing; action-reaction; healthcare provision; healthy behaviour

Subjects: Patient care and treatment; Patient diagnostic methods and instrumentation; Patient care and treatment

References

    1. 1)
      • 7. ‘Wheelchairs aren't used, they are worn’, Scope Disability forum. Available at https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/30040/wheelchairs-arent-used-they-are-worn. Accessed 26 October 2016.
    2. 2)
    3. 3)
      • 9. ‘Number of Internet Users (2016) – Internet Live Stats’. Available at http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/. Accessed 26 October 2016.
    4. 4)
      • 5. Federici, S., Meloni, F., Borsci, S.: ‘The abandonment of assistive technology in Italy: a survey of users of the national health service’, Eur. J. Phys. Rehabil. Med., 2016.
    5. 5)
      • 10. S.V. President and BCG: ‘Number of mobile phone users worldwide 2013–2019’, Statista. Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/274774/forecast-of-mobile-phone-users-worldwide/. Accessed 26 October 2016.
    6. 6)
      • 19. Kani-Zabihi, E., Coles-Kemp, L., Helmhout, M.: ‘Information presentation: considering on-line user confidence for effective engagement’, in Tryfonas, T., Askoxylakis, I. (Eds.): ‘Human aspects of information security, privacy, and trust’ (Springer International Publishing, 2015), pp. 517–525.
    7. 7)
      • 6. ‘Enabling The Future’, Enabling The Future. Available at http://enablingthefuture.org/. Accessed 26 October 2016.
    8. 8)
    9. 9)
      • 8. admin: ‘Design my wheels’, Global Disability Innovation Hub, 30 July 2016. Available at https://gdihub.lets-go.live/projects/design-my-wheels. Accessed 26 October 2016.
    10. 10)
      • 14. Holloway, C., Herari, B., Nicholson, S., et al: ‘Street Rehab: linking accessibility and rehabilitation’. Annual Int. Conf. of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2016. EMBC 2016, 2016.
    11. 11)
      • 11. Desmet, P.M.A., Pohlmeyer, A.E.: ‘Positive design: an introduction to design for subjective well-being’, Int. J. Des., 2013, 7, (3).
    12. 12)
      • 1. ‘Disability prevalence estimates 2002/03 to 2011/12 (April to March) – Publications – GOV.UK’. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/disability-prevalence-estimates-200203-to-201112-apr-to-mar. Accessed 19 October 2016.
    13. 13)
    14. 14)
    15. 15)
    16. 16)
      • 12. Calvo, R.A., Peters, D.: ‘Positive computing: technology for wellbeing and human potential’ (MIT Press, 2014).
    17. 17)
    18. 18)
      • 2. ‘WHO Priority Assistive Products List (APL)’, WHO. Available at http://www.who.int/phi/implementation/assistive_technology/global_survey-apl/en/. Accessed 25 October 2016.
    19. 19)
      • 13. Williams, R.J., Holloway, C., Miodownik, M.: ‘The ultimate wearable: connecting prosthetic limbs to the IoPH’. Proc. 2016 ACM Int. Joint Conf. on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing: Adjunct, New York, NY, USA, 2016, pp. 1079–1083.
http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/htl.2016.0087
Loading

Related content

content/journals/10.1049/htl.2016.0087
pub_keyword,iet_inspecKeyword,pub_concept
6
6
Loading
Print this page
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address