As technology and demographics drive significant change in assistive and accessible technologies, services within the ecosystem have evolved to address the need. The experience of COVID-19 and the growth of accessible consumer technologies with assistive features have had a long-lasting impact on disabled people and the assistive technology services designed to meet their needs. The importance of innovation in both design and delivery of services is at the forefront of global thinking.
Every aspect of AT provision has been challenged to meet new challenges throughout the service ecosystem, including awareness, assessment, provision, training, and support. The changes have challenged prior conceptions of service quality and accelerated the growth of alternative delivery approaches.
In this STS, we seek to share the experiences of service providers, service users and other stakeholders to consider the impact of innovation and change, reflecting on needs and solutions, successes and failures, discussing the factors that influenced successful transition to new models, and making recommendations for the future. The perspectives and experiences of people with disabilities are particularly important.
We invite contributions on these related topics. Possible formats include but are not restricted to, the following:
- Case studies of the experiences of one or more service provider organisations, notably how innovative and emerging technologies can be harnessed to address need and demand.
- Case studies of the experiences of individual or groups of AT users
- Reflection on the risks and benefits of innovation and personal experience
- Reflections by AT users on their experiences and the conclusions and recommendations to be drawn from them to make AT provision more resilient in the future
- Literature reviews with a focus on the last five years.
Chair
David Banes, David Banes Access and Inclusion Services