Trends in
Assistive
Technology: the
big picture
E.A.Draffan
8-18 years
Time spent using screens
spend 2x as
much time
behind a
screen
compared to
time spent in
school (Pew)
Internet non-users by disability
status
• The 3.5 million
disabled adults who
had never used the
Internet represented
30% of the adult
population who were
disabled.
• Of those adults who
reported no disability,
7% (3.0 million adults)
had never used the
Internet.
Office for National Statistics Q1
2014
Nicholas Negroponte 1995
smartphones,
pervasive connectivity,
pervasive connectivity
cloud computing, Internet of Things
(IoT) and big data
Big Data
Standards
Interoperability
Google Analytics for TextHelp app
data
I am still a Speech
Therapist at heart!
Hololens from Microsoft
UltraHaptics: Multi-Point Mid-Air
Haptic Feedback for Touch Surfaces
are
The Big picture – AT as a Service
Personalisation gone too far
Back to reality…
“It is terrible that producers seem
to forget that some areas of the
country still have poor internet
access and whilst I mourn the
passing of software on DVDs, CDs
and Floppy discs (yes I go back
that far) there are benefits to
online versions not least ease of
deployment, not having to pay for
additional licences so teachers can
use the software at home and
avoiding costly updates when the
latest version comes out. My main
concern is the 'all or nothing'
nature of these packages. Having to
sign up to the entire suite even if I
only want to use a small part of it.
For some of our students the sheer
quantity of options they would be
presented with would be
overwhelming.”
Anne-Marie Medhurst after Bett 2015
Thank You