Improving Assistive Technology Economics for People with Disabilities: Harnessing the Voluntary and Education Sectors

Assistive technology (AT) describes any device or other solution that is used by people with disabilities to assist in performing tasks or activities. While potentially useful, the availability of appropriate AT for people with disabilities can be problematic due to high costs, limited funding sources, and a lack of expertise on what solutions might exist for their needs. This paper explores the potential power of technical volunteers in collaboration with the education sector to address the problem of high AT costs for certain classes of assistive devices by providing a volunteer force of skilled engineers, designers, and other technicians who donate their time and goodwill to building appropriate, low-cost assistive devices. It presents a number of case studies on AT-related volunteer organizations and post-secondary educational initiatives, and discusses the possible growth of such initiatives. We propose a path forward to build a social movement of volunteers, modeled after the success of organizations such as Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada, Teach for America, and CanAssist at the University of Victoria to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities.