Product Narrative: Digital Assistive Technology
Product Narratives
The Product Narratives are key elements of our AT2030 objectives. They help to identify opportunities for AT2030 and others to test innovative models of what works to improve access to Assistive Technology with the potential to reach scale through innovative products; new service delivery models and local capacity.
These reports will be also foundational in informing ATscale's activities and investments in line with Objective II of ATscale Strategy Overview to identify and invest in interventions required to shape markets and overcome supply and demand-side barriers for priority AT.
We look forward to engaging with partners interested in aligning their activities with the proposed strategic approach to enable the sector to collaboratively unlock potential to reach those most in need.
These reports were developed by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) under the AT2030 programme in support of the ATscale Strategy.
Digital Assistive Technology
This document is the final in a series of in-depth analyses that identify key barriers and promising market interventions. The previous four documents focused on wheelchairs, hearings aids, prostheses, and eyeglasses.
The report provides market landscapes of 3 areas of digital AT: mobile phones; screen readers; and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices.
A common set of recommendations focused on improving access emerged from the individual product landscapes:
- Develop and adopt policies, including legislation, regulations, minimum product standards, and guidelines to support accessibility and uptake of digital AT at the global and country levels.
- Support governments of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to increase awareness of digital AT by including digital assistive products such as smartphones and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices on national assistive product lists.
- Support innovative financing schemes or negotiate pricing agreements to reduce the cost of digital AT to end users.
- Increase availability of training programmes for users, suppliers, and service providers on the availability of digital AT and digital literacy skills.
Feedback
We would also appreciate receiving ongoing feedback and comments on these documents to inform our future work. To provide your feedback on the report please use the following link (https://forms.gle/V8ddHT6ztsnKKxT26).
To learn more about the AT2030 programme, please write to Rosa Salazar at rosa.salazar@ucl.ac.uk. For questions on ATscale, please write to Alison End Fineberg, Director of ATscale, at alison@atscale2030.org.
Accessible formats
Cite as: Savage et al. (2020), Product Narrative: Digital Assistive Technology, AT2030 programme & ATscale Global Partnership for Assistive Technology. Available at: https://at2030.org/pn-digital-assistive-technology/