Applying a Universal Design Approach to Empower Children with Multiple Impairments in Assistive Technology Assessment.

Rapid developments in technology, coinciding with the shift in educational ideology towards the inclusion of children with multiple disabilities, has led to increased calls for a Universal Design (UD) approach to promoting, user-friendly, proactive, transparent, and accessible environments and to the importance of Assistive Technology (AT) applications. For children with disabilities, technologies provide opportunities for greater and more flexible access to activities then traditional interfaces if applied and matched successfully. Relatively high abandonment rates of assistive technology have been documented, often due to a lack of user involvement in the assessment process. The field of Universal Design is showing that collaborative approaches enable users to be active participants and enhance their engagement in activities and social inclusion. This paper provides a background to AT service provision in Ireland and outlines the adaptation of the Irish Matching Person with Technology (IMPT) tool from text based to a multimodal digital format for children with disabilities through a universal design approach.

Assistive technology and people: a position paper from the first global research, innovation and education on assistive technology (GREAT) summit.

Assistive technology (AT) is a powerful enabler of participation. The World Health Organization's Global Collaboration on Assistive Technology (GATE) programme is actively working towards access to assistive technology for all. Developed through collaborative work as a part of the Global Research, Innovation and Education on Assistive Technology (GREAT) Summit, this position paper provides a "state of the science" view of AT users, conceptualized as "People" within the set of GATE strategic "P"s. People are at the core of policy, products, personnel and provision. AT is an interface between the person and the life they would like to lead. People's preferences, perspectives and goals are fundamental to defining and determining the success of AT. Maximizing the impact of AT in enabling participation requires an individualized and holistic understanding of the value and meaning of AT for the individual, taking a universal model perspective, focusing on the person, in context, and then considering the condition and/or the technology. This paper aims to situate and emphasize people at the centre of AT systems: we highlight personal meanings and perspectives on AT use and consider the role of advocacy, empowerment and co-design in developing and driving AT processes.

Universal Design Across the Curriculum: Training for Students and Teachers.

Providing an inclusive educational setting for children with disabilities is essential if they are to truly benefit from mainstream education. Universal design (UD) provides a framework to develop our classrooms, materials and methods to accommodate diverse learners and students with special educational needs without the need to retrofit or remove the student from the classroom. This paper outlines the theory and the approach of two training courses on Universal Design developed for teachers and students.

The relationship of personal factors and subjective well-being to the use of assistive technology devices.

PURPOSE: To describe a measure and its performance specific to the relationship of personal factors and subjective well-being (SWB) to the use of assistive technology devices (ATDs). The primary hypothesis is that responses to a 33-item personal factors scale and a 12-item SWB scale are good indicators of an individual's predisposition for using, and subsequent match with, a given ATD. METHODS: Data analyses from a number of studies using the 33-item personal factors and the 12-item SWB scales of the Assistive Technology Device Predisposition Assessment with persons of various ages and types of disabilities. RESULTS: Regardless of type of disability or age of respondent, the ATD PA personal factors and the SWB scales identified important differences in predispositions to use an ATD as well as the subsequent quality of the match of person and device. CONCLUSIONS: A quantifiable relationship exists between the ATD PA's measure of personal factors and the SWB such that it is possible to characterise an individual's predisposition to use a particular ATD. Results also show that the scales are predictive of the quality of the ATD and user match at follow-up. Rehabilitation practitioners who use the ATD PA may achieve enhanced assistive technology service delivery outcomes by using this evidence-based measure.