AT Data Portal

Welcome to the Assistive Technology (AT) Data Portal!

Our aim is to reduce data gaps and increase knowledge sharing in the AT sector, supporting evidence-based decision-making at policy-level and improving access to information for AT entrepreneurs. Currently, 207 population-based studies included in our Systematic Review are represented in this repository using an interactive map map and histogram. You can learn more about measures of population-level AT supply and demand in our Scoping Review and how we collected the data for both reviews in the protocol.

As we develop the portal, functionalities will be added to visualise study characteristics and findings, as well as improve the site's accessibility.

You can explore the map by:

  1. searching for key words in study titles via the search icon (for example, 'visual impairment', 'Australia', 'unmet need');
  2. filtering studies by key characteristics via the filter icon;
  3. directly selecting countries on the map or using location levels via the layered icon; 
  4. viewing studies presenting multi-national or global estimates via the globe icon;
  5. generating a data table via the data table icon.  

Studies conducted at a higher level regions

This section contains studies that were conducted at a region level higher than the one selected, without specifying regions at the selected level.

Change the region level

Choose which region level to use when visualising the data.

Note: boundaries for some lower level regions (states, districts) will only show up when zoomed in. When you select these levels the map will be zoomed in automatically.

The table below shows the results after applying the specified filters (including from the search tool above).

Assistive Product Access Indicators

Below, you can generate a histogram representing assistive product (AP) access indicators (i.e., quantitative study results ‘indicating’ population-level AP access).

This figure presents the indicator numerator (e.g. total with met need) out of a defined population denominator (e.g. total with an AP) for each study setting that reports that specific indicator type for a specific AP type. These indicators are represented proportionally on the horizontal bars for comparison and they are labelled with the absolute number of individuals for the added context of study sample size.

You can compare indicators across studies by:

  1. Selecting an AP type, then
  2. selecting the indicator numerator, then
  3. selecting a denominator.

Please note that not all combinations of AP type, numerator, and denominator were reported in our studies, so not all combinations will yield results.

Accessible Olli tree view

Indicators are presented here as they were (1) directly reported in the results of studies, meaning their numerators and denominators aligned with our terms and definitions, or (2) indirectly reported, meaning it was possible to calculate them using clearly defined data provided in the articles. Further detail, including definitions for each indicator, are provided in our Systematic Review (specifically Table 1). To facilitate comparison across studies where possible, indicator denominators are categorised as follows: 

  1. Total population: the broader regional or national population from which the study sample was drawn. This denominator is larger than the number of participants when study results are only presented as extrapolations.
  2. Total in analysis: all participants included in the study’s analysis. This may be smaller than the number of total participants reported in a study, as some participants may not complete all components of the assessments.
  3. Total with functional difficulty: all study participants assessed to have the relevant impairment (eg, vision impairment) or functioning difficulty (eg, difficulty seeing). Some studies only include individuals with impairment/functional difficulty as participants or in the analysis.
  4. Total with need: all participants assessed to have need of the relevant AP. Some studies consider all participants with impairment/functional difficulty as needing an AP.
  5. Total with AP: all participants who already have an AP. 

Some studies reported multiple indicators out of a single denominator (e.g. met and unmet need, out of the total with need), where the indicators add up to equal the denominator (e.g. met need + unmet need = total need). However, other studies only report one of these indicators (e.g. met need, out of the total with need). In these cases, we represent the remainder of the bar as empty if it has not been defined as the complementary indicator by the original study authors (e.g. 'no met need').