Human Engineering Research Laboratories, US Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Pittsburgh, USA.
Human Engineering Research Laboratories, US Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Pittsburgh, USA; Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology, University of Pittsburgh, USA; Center for Assistive Technology, UPMC Health System, USA.
Med Eng Phys. 2019 Oct;72:3-12. doi: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2019.08.011.
Over the past four decades, there have been breakthroughs in communication, mobility and tools to manipulate objects. Probably the most important transformation has been the growing inclusion of people with disabilities into the prioritization, conceptualization, and design of new assistive devices. Advances in technology, demands from people with disabilities, and changes in cultural perceptions have made noteworthy changes in the technologies that have improved lives, and affected transformations that benefit both individuals and society. People with disabilities lives have been improved but there is still much to be done. Unfortunately, people with disabilities in low income countries have lagged people in higher income countries in benefitting from technical and social changes. Assistive devices have benefitted from the availability of powerful, portable computing power, from small low-power sensors, from new materials, from rapid prototyping and flexible manufacturing. There are exciting emerging technologies that show promise for future advances.
在过去的四十年中，通讯、移动和操纵物体的工具方面取得了突破。也许最重要的转变是将残疾人越来越多地纳入新的辅助设备的优先级、概念化和设计中。技术的进步、残疾人的需求以及文化观念的变化，使改善生活的技术和有益于个人和社会的变革发生了显著变化。残疾人的生活得到了改善，但仍有许多工作要做。不幸的是，低收入国家的残疾人受益于技术和社会变革的速度落后于高收入国家的残疾人。辅助设备受益于强大的便携式计算能力、低功耗传感器、新材料、快速原型制作和灵活制造的可用性。一些令人兴奋的新兴技术显示出未来进步的前景。
