Assistive Technology
What is Assistive Technology?
Assistive technologies are any product, high or low tech,whose primary purpose is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence to facilitate participation and to enhance overall well-being. (WHO)
Provision of assistive technology (AT) for children, particularly in pre-school is very rare in India. To examine the barriers and facilitators to assistive technology provision and use for children in rural India, we conducted a study, by surveying local service providers. The study found that the main barriers and facilitators to AT provision and use were:
- Acceptability
- Affordability
- Availability
- Accessibility
- Adaptability
Read the study findings here: https://www.amarseva.org/uploads/default/files/Resomate/Enabling Local Provision of AT.pdf
Based on the study findings, Amar Seva Sangam’s Enabling Inclusion program launched an assistive devices provision program.
The impact of the initiative has been that it has ensured access to assistive products including support for the assessment of needs, distribution, and servicing of those products support for ensuring funding and affordable access to assistive products support for adequate training of personnel at all levels in the disability field and support for family and community awareness and empowerment to facilitate acceptance and use of assistive products.
How this AT program supported by our EI App?
The program is Enabling Inclusion app-driven.
Amar Seva Sangam launched the Enabling Inclusion (EI)® app and program in 2014. The app connects community workers and parents with the expertise of rehab specialists so that high quality early intervention and child rehab services can be provided for children with disabilities within their own homes, nearby centres, or mobile clinics. The app contains validated assessment tools, family-centred goal setting tools and evidence-based intervention protocols so that individualized intervention protocols can be assigned to each child with a disability.
The EI® app contains an Assistive Technology module that has a step-by-step pathway to AT access including: Prescription, Customization, Funding, Ordering and Provision, Training, Use, Fit, Maintenance and Repair.
The program also focuses on community awareness programs to decrease disability and AT stigma and promote use of AT and overall inclusion for children with disabilities. The app contains evaluation and reporting features so real-time monitoring of program outputs and outcomes can be seen by program management. The EI® app and model has been replicated through Amar Seva Sangam licensing and knowledge partnerships with Government partnerships and NGO partnerships.
