Assistive Technology
People with disabilities use rapidly changing technology to enable them to overcome barriers in educational and intellectual pursuits and in the built environment. Technology that makes tasks easier to perform is known as Assistive Technology.
Assistive Technology is any assistive, adaptative, or rehabilitative device that a person uses to perform everyday tasks. These devices are changing as rapidly as technology improves, opening up new opportunities to people with disabilities and making many barriers to their participation in society obsolete.
Throughout history, people have used devices to adapt to life with a disability. Cochlear implants and hearing aids evolved from early ear horns, and rolling invalid chairs have evolved into sophisticated sport wheelchairs for athletes. People with disabilities have utilized these and innumerable other technologies to access education and employment and to improve their health.
Click on a part of the body to learn about assistive technologies that relate to its function. Note that many of these technologies are not just for use by people with disabilities. Many of them can help make life easier by improving accessibility for all people.
Glasses
Eyeglasses are well-recognized pieces of assistive technology: approximately 64% of U.S. citizens wear them to correct their vision. They can help correct near-sightedness, far-sightedness, or be used simply for reading. Glasses can be traced back to the 5th century BC, although the first modern lenses were created around 1284.
Missouri History Museum exhibition
Americans with Disabilities Act: 20 Years Later.
June 26, 2010
to Jan 8, 2012