Emerging Technologies and Cognitive Disability

Abstract

Despite the potential of emerging technologies to assist persons with cognitive disabilities, significant practical impediments remain to be overcome in commercialization, consumer abandonment, and in the design and development of useful products. Barriers also exist in terms of the financial and organizational feasibility of specific envisioned products, and their limited potential to reach the consumer market. Innovative engineering approaches, effective needs analysis, user-centered design, and rapid evolutionary development are essential to ensure that technically feasible products meet the real needs of persons with cognitive disabilities. Efforts must be made by advocates, designers and manufacturers to promote better integration of future software and hardware systems so that forthcoming iterations of personal support technologies and assisted care systems technologies do not quickly become obsolete. They will need to operate seamlessly across multiple real-world environments in the home, school, community, and workplace.