Importance of Assistive Technology

The term "assistive technology" refers to a device or object that helps someone with a disability function in society, such as a wheelchair, hearing aids or a document printed in Braille.

Significance

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology estimates that 20.6 percent of Americans have some kind of disability. For disabled people, assistive technology rates as a necessity that helps them perform everyday tasks that able-bodied people don't think twice about doing.

Types

• Assistive technology ranges from something as simple as a bar attached to a bathroom wall to assist someone getting on and off a toilet, to electronic devices used to help the hard of hearing and augmentative communication devices for those who cannot speak. Even prostheses rate as assistive technology, according to AbleData.com.

In the Workplace

• The Job Accommodation Network reports that assistive technology in the workplace not only benefits disabled people, but also companies as a whole. According to a 2009 survey of employers, most could accommodate disabled employees' needs for assistive technology at a low cost, and 76 percent of respondents found technology "very effective" or "extremely effective" at increasing employees' productivity. Those employers also viewed investing in assistive technology as cost effective, as it allowed them to keep an otherwise qualified employee, rather than training someone new.