What is Assistive Technology

What is Assistive Technology?

In the XXIst century Assistive Technology (AT) should be defined as a scientific & technologic approach to develop products and services oriented to support elderly people and people with disabilities in their daily activities, maximizing their personal autonomy, independence, health and quality of life.

This definition involves the use of technologies for:
Integral bio-psycho-social therapy and rehabilitation assessmentDisability compensationIntegration of people with disabilities in society and social environment Improvement of personal security and personal and familiar careImprove quality of life of care-giversAssistive technology is, therefore, an instrument for the improvement of the well-being, full social participation, and quality of life of people with disabilities, their families and professionals involved in their care.

The portfolio of services and products within AT field includes a great diversity of solutions related to:Mobility and prosthetics Sensorial impairments (visual and hearing) Cognitive disability, including affective and social issuesSupport of daily living activitiesCognitive and Physic assessment, treatment and rehabilitation. Access to information and alternative communication. Urban accessibility, transport and architecture Accessibility in the work place.
Which is the role of the Assistive Technology in the XXIst century?


One of the main challenges the advanced societies are facing during the incoming years is the population ageing, which has number of implications related to disability and care issues. It is out of doubt that ageing represents one of the hot topics in European policies; actually Europe is the most aged population in the world along with Japan.


The natural association between ageing and disability is evident, and the number of people with disabilities is increasing as consequence of population ageing. The table below presents the rate of disability according to the age in the Spanish population.

In overall, the advanced societies will have to deal with a situation with high rates of population over 60 years (25% in 2010), and, in consequence, a big number of people with disabilities.

According to statistics, it is estimated that the percentage of people with some kind of disability in Europe is 11%, and these numbers will presumably increase to 18% in 2020, mainly because of the mentioned population ageing.


At the same time, while the population is ageing, the number of potential carers (formal or informal) will decrease drastically. Disabilities related to musculoskeletal pathologies, sensory impairments (visual and hearing) and nervous central system pathologies are the most prevalent, with high incidence rates. Altogether represent 80% of people with disabilities in the advanced countries.


Among this scenario, new tools are required for assuring the sustainability of health-care system, and AT will be one of those fundamental tools. Actually, AT play a fundamental role in equalising opportunities and in improving quality of life of people with disabilities, since it provides solutions oriented to the rehabilitation or compensation of functional abilities, helping to the elimination of barriers in all kind of environment. The satisfactory use of this kind of solutions enables a better integration of the people with disabilities in the current society.


Still an emerging field
During the last years, AT field has been involved in a great development, mainly because of the technological revolution. Nowadays, there are better solutions than 20, 10 or 5 years ago, and we foresee solutions that were unimaginable some years ago, such as the neuroprosthetics for urinary control in people with spinal cord injury or the cochlear implant for people with hearing impairments. This development is evident in “high tech” products (e-health, computer based systems…) and also in traditional products as the wheelchair. The wheelchairs have incorporated new materials, designs and components, and besides, advanced control systems and communication systems for integration with peripherals such as mobile phones or smart houses.

In general, it is estimated that there are more that 20,000 products related to AT representing a market of more than 30 billion euro. These figures will be multiplied with the increase of number of dependent people, which is one of the main consequences of the population pyramid inversion. This new social situation will increase the demand of current products and will open the door to new range of products and services to satisfy new needs.
However, despite the technological development and the opportunity it opens, the situation of AT field is not as desired and there is still a long way to cover.


The main objective is to make people with disability benefit from all these products and, above all, from the opportunities that technological developments bring to society; and this objective is still far from being achieved.
There are different causes for this situation:
Unstructured Market: the “Access to Assistive Technology in the European Union” study carried out by the European Commission, reveals that the AT market is unstructured, and there is a lack of transparency and efficiency due to the complexity of the current regulation and the provision system. The majority of the producers are specialised micro-companies, with low inversion capacity for the development of the products and for market development.
Information and advice: As a consequence of the mentioned above, while there is vast variety products offered in the EU, accessibility to products and information is very poor. Therefore, the end user of AT products is dealing with lack of information when deciding about the most suitable product to purchase.Assessment: the interdisciplinary skills that the development of any AT solution requires, is also required when assessing and selecting the most suitable AT solution for end user. However, the reality is that this process is carried out by a single person, without having the required multidisciplinary vision and, in most of the cases, not having the suitable education.


Therefore, in most occasions, the provided solution is not the most suitable one from the integral point of view, generating unsatisfactory and even delicate situations.
Human centred design: despite the increase of multidisciplinary research groups, the user’s participation is still poor, making lot of developments being “technology driven”, instead of driven by real needs.


Traditional offer: despite the technological development, AT offer has not been developed much during last 30 years. The AT products are still mainly oriented to mobility, and the actual offer is not considering the epidemiologic trend, missing high prevalence disabilities such as those related to neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. Alzheimer, Parkinson…). Moreover, AT is not considering at all prevention and rehabilitation stages, which are as important as compensation.
These circumstances slow down the final takeoff of the TA field; a field that will have to fly at cruise speed in some years to satisfy, the more and more exigent demands of people with disabilities.


Future perspectives: opportunity
We are, therefore, in a situation of necessity but also of opportunity. An opportunity for creating a new economic scenario comparable to those related to main sectors. An economic scenario which can be postulated as the motor of the new society, taking advantage of the ageing of the so called baby-boomers. The early baby-boomers are already over 60 and will represent the most important social movement in advanced societies during next 20 years, gathering for example the 50% of the American purchase capacity.


But this opportunity presents challenges; challenges that we will have to face in order to take advantage of the situation and to achieve the objectives, in terms of market volume and in terms of quality of life.
New Technologies: Technological development is still running and AT need to be aware of all new opportunities this development is raising. Besides mechanics and electronics, also ambient intelligence, smart and advance materials, nanoelectronics, biomechatronics and even bionics can offer important options for suitable solutions for people with disabilities and elderly people.
Socio-Economic Issues: As mentioned above, the market is still un-structured and the delivery system poor. Making Assistive technology products affordable to end users is definitely one of the big challenges for the incoming years.


Universal design and its engagement with Assistive Technology: Taking into account the diversity of everybody when designing products and services leads to a more accessible range of solutions. Integrating Design for All philosophy in the development of regular products and even AT products will speed up the integration process, reducing the gap between context requirements and functional abilities of people with disability. Evidence based Practice: This means that there are many important business opportunities for Assistive technology in the near and mid term future that will only be realized with a sound knowledge and understanding of the use of Assistive Technology solutions in real practice.


Ageing and disability: Europe, as all other developed regions in the World, is facing a new social challenge; population ageing. This issue will introduce new type of needs and demands in terms of care, support and prevention that AT will have to face.


The next 9th European Conference for the Advancement of Assistive Technology, which will be held 3-5 October in San Sebastián (Spain) will provide an opportunity to take a good look at these main challenges that the Assistive Technology community and society in general, will have to face in the next few years.