What is Assistive Technology?
Assistive technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities.
Assistive technology comes in various forms in which it can be:
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Low-tech: communication boards made of cardboard or fuzzy felt.
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High-tech: special-purpose computers.
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Hardware: prosthetics, mounting systems, and positioning devices.
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Computer hardware: special switches, keyboards, and pointing devices.
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Computer software: screen readers and communication programs.
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Inclusive or specialized learning materials and curriculum aids.
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AT can be specialized curricular software.
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AT can be much more—electronic devices, wheelchairs, walkers, braces, educational software, power lifts, pencil holders, eye-gaze and head trackers, and much more.
Assistive technology helps people who have difficulty speaking, typing, writing, remembering, pointing, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, and many other things. Different disabilities require different assistive technologies.
In Nigeria, the accessibility to these assistive technologies is limited as a number of factors militates the adoption of various devices or software.
Cost- With 91.8 million people living in abject poverty, it would be hard not to fathom that cost of acquisition of these devices would be the primary challenge for people who are in need of it.
According to an article, the cost of acquiring braille books for young students is becoming exceedingly above affordable scaling up to about N5000 a book. An average generic wheelchair costs about N45, 000-N300, 000 depending on its functionality while electrically powered wheelchairs can start at as high as N450,000 to about even 3 million Naira. Juxtaposing these figures with the Nigerian minimum wage of 30,000 naira, it is indeed obvious that having special needs is not for the medium income earner or the poor.
Awareness- In a bid to drive the message of inclusion, offices, hospital, banks have been required to add accessibility features for persons with special needs. Although this has been in progress, the awareness is still very low as most offices do not make provision for screen readers or braille displays for people with vision impairment. Assistive technology for the dumb like the type and talk and hand-talk devices sound like a myth in Nigeria, whereas these would help us communicate effectively with people who are deaf and dumb. Computer and internet literacy in Nigeria being at its lowest would also contribute to the lack of awareness of these ATs. We can say without a doubt, in the coming years with the high infiltration rate of medical technology companies and startups spring up in Nigeria, there would be a higher use and acceptance of assistive technology.