During the recent EASPD conference The Future is Now: Person Centred Technology to empower people and disability services I launched the idea for the European Commission to facilitate the establishment of a European Innovation Partnership on the Digital Divide. European Innovation Partnerships (EIP’s) are more or less self-organising collaborative ecosystems that without much top-down coordination […]
The pace of change has increased incredibly in the assistive technology sector, just as in all other parts of our society. In these rapidly moving times, experience is a foundation and provides valuable background. It was therefore our particular pleasure to win Björk Pálsdóttir for an interview. Björk has started out as occupational therapist in […]
It is an open secret when writing reports for research or consultancy that the most crucial part is the executive summary. In any project, at some point, it will be agreed that most of the audience will only ever read the executive summary. Research reports are long, complex and time-consuming, and as a result, the […]
Digital skills are crucial to fully participate in today’s life – that was already true before the global pandemic hit and is even more true going forward. While at least in developing countries the accessibility and affordability of ICT devices and online services has markedly improved, we are still lagging behind in providing the necessary […]
Can you give us a quick overview of the role and mission of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) Ιn brief I would say that the general mission of AAATE is to indorse assistive technologies as an important player for equal opportunities and quality of life of people with disabilities […]
Access to AT is a right, which enables access to employment, education, and all aspects of daily life. Delivering this is not a one-off intervention in most cases, and this is reflected in the 5P’s (People, Products, Provision, Personnel and Policy) developed by the World Health Organisation and in the AT ecosystem that I have […]
In her editorial in the journal ‘Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology’ [1]. Marcia Scherer raises an interesting issue. She states the technology has become so integrated into all aspects of our daily life that the bio-psycho-social model is no longer sufficient to understand that daily life and to guide interventions that aim to support people […]
The article can be accessed here (it is free to access): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17483107.2020.1752319 The biopsychosocialtech model started for me with the book, Living in the State of Stuck (Scherer, 2005). The individuals in the book informed me of what they experience when technology becomes more and more sophisticated and does more things. Access to it may […]
Inclusive education has been and still is in the core of the battle for educational change towards equal opportunities and non-discrimination for children with disabilities for many years. However, interpretations, policies and educational practices around the world vary, and a number of challenges emerge in developing inclusive educational practices (Haug, 2017). Nevertheless, there is a […]
