Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6.
Universal design in public use infrastructure
: Building accessibility into mainstream
products, such as cell phones, open-source software, and universally designed
devices.
1.3.1 Charity-Based Models
Charity-based programs have been used for decades as a means to provide individuals
with material products that they could not access because of their socioeconomic and envi-
ronmental conditions. Past programs have engaged in mass distribution of different types
of AT, including mobility devices and hearing aids. Charities engage in different activities
such as developing low-cost prototypes available for free, fundraising to finance the deliv-
ery of AT, and refurbishing and recycling of old AT devices. Although mass distributions
of AT can be helpful at times, such as when a conflict or disaster results in many acquired
disabilities, they often involve products designed with the one-size-fits-all approach,
which cannot be customized to the needs of the consumers and their environments, or
they have low-quality designs that can lead to secondary injuries and wounds.
1.3.2 Community-Based rehabilitation Models
Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) was conceptualized and promoted by WHO and
related United Nations (UN) agencies in the early 1980s as a means of providing services
to people with disabilities in developing countries who had no access to quality rehabilita-
tive facilities, physicians, and other qualified personnel. The original rationale behind CBR
was to circumvent the need for expensive institutional care and a lack of government sup-
port by providing cost-effective rehabilitation services to people with disabilities within
their own homes and communities. Although its inception focused on the need for medical
rehabilitative care, it has evolved because of a realization that rehabilitation aimed at pro-
moting independent functioning has to respond to the need for securing equal rights and
access to services such as education, employment, health services, and public services and
facilities. Because CBR works on the principle of finding solutions through locally available
resources, most AT delivered through CBR programs are designed to be affordable, made
with locally available materials, and appropriate to the environment of the consumer.
1.3.3 Individual empowerment Models
In individual empowerment models, consumers “partner” with providers in product eval-
uation and selection as professionals strive to individualize services, help people achieve
their self-determined goals, and ensure people are included in all aspects of community
life. To achieve a good match of person and technology and improved rates of optimal
AT use, it is important that the potential technology user be paired with a well-informed
provider.
1.3.4 entrepreneurial Models
Entrepreneurial models promote the availability of AT through commercialization, and
this transfer of technology can occur using either top-down or bottom-up approaches.
In the top-down entrepreneurial model, the technology solution is brought into the local
market by a foreign or external entity. Top-down distribution of AT can also include local
franchising and adaptation to the local culture.
