Talk:Assistive technology

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Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:52, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
There is a bibliography of sources available to improve the page with.

There
There seems to be some confusion here. Assistive technology is technology that is used in addition to regular technology to enable a disabled user to access, ideally with normal speed and in an integrated manner, what non-disabled people can access without such technology.

For using the internet, asistive technology includes voice-enabled web browsersand read-back devices, braille readers and output devices, voice inout browsers, magnigying screen readers, etc.

The other side of the coin is what web developers can to do make their content more accessible. In software design, this is called universal access design. This does not necessarily require the disabled user to acquire any assistive technology. Items included here are keyboard-only navigation, possible in Microsoft Windows and most of their other software, as well as, the Opera browser, proper formating of links, atlernate attributes in tags for images etc. Many of these design principles, however, do assume some assistive technology on the part of the disabled user, and try to insure that such assistive technology is allowed to function properly. For exampled, for a blind internet user, it is assumed that he/she will be using some assistive technology like a voice enabled browser, at least. Then, some of these principles of universal design, like alternate attributes on images, do assume assistive technology. There are always additional advantages to such design, however, There are people with old enough, or weak enough computers that they can only access text only content. For them, such explanations of what an image describes is useful too.

In summmary, assistive technology should only include technology that supplements what the non-disabled user needs to access software, or even their computers at all. Another example-for those with with extreme mobility-impairments, breath-enabled controls for computers are available. (Opinion-If I am reaching a point that even one person is "beginning to feel uncomfortable at these details," I say, good!!!)

I don't see why you didn't just edit the assistive technology article rather than write the above review. --LMS Because that would be too simple...:-) RoseParks

Suggest 14 possible wiki links for Assistive technology.
An automated Wikipedia link suggester has some possible wiki link suggestions for the Assistive_technology article:

Notes: The article text has not been changed in any way; Some of these suggestions may be wrong, some may be right. Feedback: I like it, I hate it, Please don't link to &mdash; LinkBot 11:30, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Can link universal design: ...great rewards to the normal user; good accessible design is universal design, they say. The classic example of an assistive technology ...
 * Can link telephone line: ...erts typed characters into tones which may be sent over the telephone line, the deaf person is able to communicate immediately at a di...
 * Can link contact centre: ...en the alert is triggerred, a message is sent to a carer or contact centre who can respond appropriately. The range of sensors is wid...
 * Can link visually impaired: ...gy to support the learning and employment opportunities for visually impaired users. Royal National Institute for the Blind. ISBN 1858785... (link to section)
 * Can link Royal National Institute for the Blind: ...g and employment opportunities for visually impaired users. Royal National Institute for the Blind . ISBN 1858785170.... (link to section)
 * Can link Richmond, VA: ...bilitation counselor desktop guide to supported employment. Richmond, VA : Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation Research ... (link to section)
 * Can link Virginia Commonwealth University: ...selor desktop guide to supported employment. Richmond, VA : Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Supported Em... (link to section)
 * Can link Denver, CO: ...the annual meeting of The Council for Exceptional Children, Denver, CO .... (link to section)
 * Can link Learning disabilities: ...il for Exceptional Children, Denver, CO. * Lee, C. (1999). Learning disabilities and assistive technologies; an emerging way to touch the fu... (link to section)
 * Can link Amherst, MA: ...ssistive technologies; an emerging way to touch the future. Amherst, MA : McGowan Publications.... (link to section)
 * Can link The CALL: ... * Nisbet, P. &amp; Poon, P. (1998). Special Access Technology. The CALL Centre, University of Edinburgh. Available as a free downlo... (link to section)
 * Can link University of Edinburgh: ...oon, P. (1998). Special Access Technology. The CALL Centre, University of Edinburgh . Available as a free download from: ([[Assistive_technology#Further reading|link to section])
 * Can link individual differences: ...042136 * Rose, D. &amp; Meyer, A. (2000). Universal design for individual differences . Educational Leadership, 58(3), 39-43.... (link to section)
 * Can link National Library: ...vents diary) * National Library for the Blind (Access Technology Primer)... (link to section)

Assistive Technology examples
The example stating, "the modern telephone is, except for the deaf, universally accessible" misses the mark, especially when one considers the following example, the calculator.

The very same mobility impairments (not deafness) cited as challenges to a person's ability to use a calculator can preclude effective use of a "standard" telephone; reach, fine motor control, etc. Further, the same solution offered for calculator access is available for telephones: voice-based control.

(My very first Wiki comment. Yes, if I had the time, I'd edit the page right now... Need to think on it more.)

-dtp-

recently added, recently cut
The following paragraph was recently added to the article. It obviously specific to some country (or other, smaller political jurisdiction) but does not give its context, so I've cut it, because that lack of context renders it meaningless. Feel free to add back basically this material, but with context! (Oh, and a citation wouldbe nice, too.) -- 06:28, May 2, 2005 (UTC)


 * Assistive Technology is becoming very evident in K-12 Education. With the passage of IDEA 1997, all students with disabilities that are eligble for special education are required to be considered for assistive technology.  In this way, assistive technology can be used to help compensate for skills that are yet to be developed by an individual student so that the student can continue to access the content of the school curriculum.

telephones, universal design, telecare
I agree that universal design should be a separate topic, and so should be telecare.

Telecare for the person being monitored is not assistive technology-- but rather a medical technology used to monitor them from a remote location. However, if there is a medical provider that is unable to travel due to their disability, then perhaps telecare could be considered an assistive technology to the healthcare provider.

Telephones are not universally accessible to people with visual impairments either--they have various lights, displays, buttons other than the number pad, unique number pad arrangements, etc. I am taking that "universally accessible" phrase out. --141.157.54.195 16:06, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Lists of organisations for assistive technology
How do these lists not violate WP:EL WP:SPAM WP:NOT? --Ronz 01:52, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Quite a few are prominent non-profits with ad-free sites, and I think those are appropriate, but I wouldn't mind seeing it winnowed. - Jmabel | Talk 03:30, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
 * That's a good point. Two things: (1) They'll get added back regularly (not that that makes you wrong, just a problem) and (2) If we winnow it, what criteria do we use? Most famous? National? Oldest? Agree a list? The last seems the most fruitful, but it may be heated. I tried to resolve a similar problem on the Screen_readers page by removing the growing list of screen readers to a separate List_of_screen_readers page, but they keep getting added back in to Screen readers and I'm not sure that a page of links was in compliance with Not a directory anyway. How best to proceed? - Alasdairking | Talk 18:20, 10 October 2006
 * I think it is important to remember that these articles are for informing readers about the topics. For this topic, I'd favor links to government-run organizations and government-provided resources, which I'd hope would have lists of other organizations, lists of technologies, etc.  Beyond those, I'm not sure. --Ronz 18:20, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Also, if one of these has a good collection of links to others, including one such directory is actually recommended in External links. - Jmabel | Talk 06:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, I've been through all the links: most are spam. These two looked the best of them: Assistive Technology Product Database - American Foundation for the Blind and ABLEDATA Global database of AT and Rehab products. Any preferences? Alasdairking | Talk 18:00, 16 October 2006
 * Thanks! ABLEDATA seems to be exactly like what I mentioned: "Maintained for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Dept. of Education".  It's very extensive, with a large amount of information and links to sites such as that of the American Foundation for the Blind. --Ronz 19:04, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Introduction
This article's introduction needs a major rewrite. It's far too long to be merely introducing the reader to the subject. Either the article content needs thorough review, or the introduction needs to be kept brief and more needs to be added to the main body. -- VegitaU 00:07, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Wiki link
Anon user added this link. Not sure it adds anything to article. Placed here for discussion.


 * Wikiversity Assistive Technology

Calltech (talk) 15:16, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

AT Category
Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing a lot of oddities in Category:Assistive technology. It seems to me that Chargebox, ILIAS, Logitech Harmony Remote, and Universal remote don't belong in there. Or am I crazy? Perhaps my understanding of how these qualify as AT is limited and somebody can enlighten me? -Etoile (talk) 22:06, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Rubbing teeth to make music
Talk:Vocal_percussion is a neat idea that allows one to make music even if all their body can move still is their jawbone. Jidanni (talk) 23:36, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Minor spelling edits
I've made the following minor spelling edits to this page. Changed recognisable to recognizable, travellers to travelers, carer to caregiver, keyguards to key guards and keypresses to key presses. Jbtrout (talk) 01:04, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Futher reading...
Hi all,

The 'Further reading' section is pretty bloated and I'm not sure how much it helps the article - how do we feel about removing it from the article and moving it over to this talk page so that it's not cluttering the article, but we can still use it to reference stuff and make the article better? Fayedizard (talk) 21:36, 26 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi, this is a known issue, on more active pages such "editor content" tends to get archived. What you may consider is creating a separate article "Bibliography of assistive technologies. Rich Farmbrough, 23:48, 17 September 2012 (UTC).


 * That works - thanks Rich. Fayedizard (talk) 07:46, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Vehicles
An entire category of assitive technology, that of vehicle adaptations, is strangely absent from this article. I say "strangely" because it is arguably the "category" of assitive technology most often encountered by the general public after the "traditional" mobility aids such as wheelchairs and crutches. I'll have a go at writing a section in the new year, but naturally anyone else is hereby invited to beat me too it. Roger (talk) 09:21, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

Title case title?
I tried to move this page to "Assistive Technology", instead of where it is now: "Assistive technology" (notice the lower case "t"). The whole article uses the phrase with title casing (except one instance, which should be fixed to be consistent). So I'm wondering why the name/title of the page uses sentence case...?

In my opinion, the whole article, including the title should use sentence case, since "assistive technology" is not a brand name or proper noun, it's a generic term. Thoughts? Louisstar (talk) 05:26, 3 June 2014 (UTC)


 * Yes title case should only be used for actual titles or proper names, if the article were about a book Assistive Technology then it would be used like that. It's not just my and your opinion, it's what the MOS specifies. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:58, 3 June 2014 (UTC)


 * I've just done a fairly comprehensive cleanup of the article, please check if I've missed any problems. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 08:56, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

Added AT in education
Hi All-

I'm new to Wikipedia and this is my first edit so I'm open to any feedback you may have to offer. I added a section about AT in education and a little about switch access for computer use with a link to the switch access section. I wasn't sure if AT in education should be a whole different section or folded into a previously existing one. I was also going to include something about the blending of AT into generally used technology (ex: word prediction is now built into iOS and android) and UDL but wan't sure if this was a good idea.

Loretod (talk) 12:50, 12 April 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Assistive technology. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110429132719/http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/accessibility.html to http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/accessibility.html

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 17:31, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Disability robot into Assistive technology
Although the article Disability Robot] has existed for some time, it does not seem to be a topic unto itself. The citations on that page do not use the term "disability robot" and a quick google search yield only one result where the phrase is used, and it appears to be quoting verbatim this page. Ethanpet113 (talk) 00:13, 30 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I've never heard of this term (Disability Robot) and don't think it's widely used. Ayersforce (talk) 19:45, 18 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Also agree. This term is no longer used, and covers similar topics. CrownNinja1 (talk • contribs) 21:09, 16 October 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 06:06, 13 September 2022 (UTC)