Assistive Technology Books

As an occupational therapist working in the school system, and currently providing assistive technology evaluation, education, and training, I found Living in a State of Stuck to be one of the most influential works I have read in a good number of years. We all have stories, and the individuals that Dr. Scherer has listened to and followed in her book have voices that resonate. I have practiced for nearly 30 years, and her approach feels like coming home to the core principles of the profession I have love. Thank you, Dr. Scherer, and please keep writing.

In working with people with disabilities I found Scherer's book gave a different slant on their issues and the use of technology. It was easy reading and informative. The case studies gave examples of the various needs, likes and dislikes and preferences of people with disabilites and their uses of assistive technology. Probably the most important emphasis of Scherer's book is know your consumer and listen. There is no universal recommendation for assistive tech for our consumers.

This book was very insightful and well researched. It includes numerous individuals with disabilities and describes using Assistive Technology in real life situations. It highlights that all persons with the same disability do not use the same Assistive Technology and that above all else, the individual's needs, desires and goals should be considered before the purchase of Assistive Technology. In addition, it also points out that people with an acquired disability may feel differently about Assistive Technology than a person born with a disability. Overall, an excellent read!

Living in the State of Stuck teaches us how to look at assistive technology in a "big picture" perspective. The book discusses tailoring adaptations to particular needs, and how to practically apply adaptations to every day lives. Many people are afraid to use assistive technologies themselves, but expect people with disabilities to embrace adaptations. Scherer talks about matching people with technologies, not because they are a quick fix, and easily accessible, but because that person is genuinely interested in attaining and using the device which THEY have informatively chosen. Scherer uses practical information are stories about people of all ages and disabilities successfully using the latest technologies. She provides online resources, organizations, vendors and a worksheet to assist with matching persons with technologies.

As a rehabilitation professional and an individual with a severe mobility impairment, I found Dr. Scherer's book to be most enlightening. To tell you the truth, I was expecting another dry textbook bogged down with a lot of technical terms and professional jargon. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to read interesting stories about flesh and blood individuals, and the impact their disabilities and the use of assistive technology have had on their lives. It's one thing to read about all the wonderful things assistive technology can provide - it's quite another to read real life examples of its implementation.

I can relate to the author's belief that the technology is only as good as it is perceived to be by the individual that is using the technology, and that a holistic approach to matching the appropriate technology is essential. As Dr. Scherer points out, it doesn't matter how marvelous we as professionals' think the technology is. If it doesn't meet the need of the individual, it is virtually useless. To illustrate the author's point, I can't count the number of times a rehab professional has told me I should do this, or I should use that, or I should do it this way or that way, etc., without ever bothering to ask for my opinion or ideas. However, I have recently had my bilateral long leg braces refurbished, and (per Dr. Scherer's model), I essentially told the orthotist how I wanted it done. The end result - the braces are much more comfortable to wear and skin breakdown at the various pressure points has decreased dramatically!

Very good for Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists. Excellent for rehabilitation engineers. A very good guide for those who wish to start an AssistiveTechnology Service in rehabilitation.

This is one of the best books on Assistive Technology that I have read. Sue Hussey establishes herself as the leader of this field. The whole world wonders what will she write next? The illustrations, apparently done by her talented brother, are also incredible.

Everything you need to know about assistive technology and new laws about assistive technology.

AS a teacher in the higher education area, I found this book to be excellent in a good, solid overview for my students. I am currently using it in my class and would recommend it to anyone in a teacher education program.

I've used this book or versions of it for a couple of years now...I've often been asked in regular science education classes or in neuroscience or biology situations, "How do we make this stuff accessible to those with disabilities?" Thank heavens for all the tremendous work done by this group and other innovative inventors who strive to put Deaf people like me and those with learning, visual, and orthopedic disabilities on an equal footing with everyone else. This book has more than served its purpose and paid back its price many times over. Teachers and professors are always amazed at the amount of work that is ongoing in this area, as well as the amount of money out there for developing computer technology for the disabled through the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Health, as well as individual companies.

We will never make this country totally computer literate if we exclude specific populations. As the push for inclusion of students with disabilities in regular schools and acceptance of these students becomes stronger, it is absolutely critical that teachers be aware of both hardware and software that can make their curriula more accessible to both disabled and 'normal' students.

I fully endorse and encourage teaching universities and educators and librarians to make sure an updated version of this book is made available so that all students have an opportunity to achieve their highest abilities. Karen Sadler Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

The Alliance for Technology Access is a network of community-based resource centers dedicated to providing information and support services to children and adults with disabilities. Toward the furtherance of their mission that have produced Computer And Web Resources For People With Disabilities, now an expanded and thoroughly updated third edition. Computer hardware and software provide children and adults with an unprecedented opportunity to interact with the broader world of work, education, recreation, and socialization. Featured in this superb instructional reference are recommendations for making use of conventional, assistive and information technologies; illustrative personal stories of people using technology in their daily lives; details about state-of-the-art computer technology (including screen enhancements, speech synthesizers and customized keyboards); new and extensively updated listings of Internet resources, publications, support organizations, and vendors. Computer And Web Resources For People With Disabilities is an absolutely essential, core acquisition for personal, professional, academic, community library, health center, and community center disability resources library reference collections.

This a great book for individuals in education who are trying to learn more about assistive technology.

If you are a person with disabilities or have some functional limitation, there are so many tools and resources available to help you achieve your potential. But where to start? Start with this book by the Alliance for Technology Access! From establishing a vision of how your life to be, to giving you step-by-step instructions for creating a plan, to educating you about technology tools that are available, to describing your legal rights, this book has it all. I know of dozens of people for whom this book has opened doors they barely had dreamed of.

This is the best book I found for the end user with a disability. Unlike most books in its class, the book is well writtten and organized. It also has a people directed approach. The focus is on people not on technology. I like how the book helps the reader map out a strategy to explore and evaluate his options with technology.

There are those who teach ABOUT technology, and then write a text and there are those who DO technology and write about their experiences and insights. Scherer is a doer. This MUST READ book is packed with information and practical strategies, but it adds real-life personal stories to weave together and make sense of the many scattered pieces we know as "special education" today. This book is a real treat. It reads like a novel but leaves you with much wisdom as well as useful ideas and insights.

The increasing power and decreasing cost of computing is an unequivocal plus for the book's subject. Mann shows at length how there is massive promise for enhancing the quality of life for elderly and disabled people, via the intensive use of computerised technology.

The book delves into the many possibilities. Consider the ability for an electronic bracelet, say, to monitor its wearer's vital signs. It could summon assistance across a wireless network if the person suffered a heart attack or stroke.

Or take a person confined to a wheelchair. Now, some wheelchairs can climb stairs. Still pretty rare and costly. But this might change for the better. Also, the person might be able to control more of her home surroundings, like opening and closing doors or windows, via electronic means.

In perhaps the most extreme case, a person might be very paralysed. Here is perhaps the greatest possibility for lifestyle improvement, separate from medical advances on that person's condition.

Without understating the effort that has yet to happen, the book is a very promising glimpse of the future.

This is a book about people with disabilities and access technology. It's the first book I've seen on the subject of how disabled people relate to access technology. This author has done most of her work with spinal cord injuries, so in that sense it isn't about people with vision problems; but I was absolutely struck by how many parallels there are between issues faced by the blind, and the issues faced by those with severe spinal cord injuries or cerebral palsy. I was very gratified to see that we aren't the only population for whom technology is really a mixed bag. As with us, the technology they use can in some way define the way they interact with the general public so it affects the way they feel about themselves. (For example, I will not use speech products unless I am with family or by myself.) Just as in the general public, they have their technophiles and their technophobes.
As it is for us, their biggest problems are psychological and sociological, not their actual disability. I was struck by how similar their population is relative to people born with disability versus those who become disabled later in life and how that effects their response to technology. Having used a slate and stylus all through college, I will never forget how thrilled I was the first time I saw refreshable Braille! I knew immediately that it would revolutionize my life, and it did! During my former lives in high technology for blind folks, I was always dumbfounded when other blind people didn't have the same response to refreshable Braille that I had. Dr. Scherer's book talks about how people who were born with a physical disability relate so much differently to a motorized wheelchair and other technologies than those who become disabled because of an accident or disease. Well, that really describes my experience relative to refreshable Braille. Naturally, the people who didn't get as excited about it as I got were usually those who had been blinded at some point in life. To me, the ability to insert and delete text, to erase and write over something without making an unreadable mess, and the ability to locate something by Brailing in a search string was enchanting and magical. I suppose to someone who had used print, these features weren't anything new so they didn't have the same level of wow that I did. I do remember that other congenitally blind folks reacted to the technology much as I had, with awe and passion. I always thought this was really a function of Braille mastery, but now, after reading Dr. Scherer's book, I believe it's partly a matter of how someone who becomes disabled feels about the compensating technologies.

The quadriplegics in Dr. Scherer's book have similar coping issues and they have some of the same kind of employment history and problems that we blind folks have. Naturally, they have some of the same challenges with government benefits; and they have some of the same problems trying to fund the technology they need. They have similar issues with service animals. It seemed like they have some of the same challenges relative to human help versus technology. As with us, their "quality of life" is often a function of the quality of help they get from family, volunteers, and paid help and they don't want to completely replace human assistance with technology. They have very similar issues with privacy, dignity, self-sufficiency, and learned helplessness.

Dr. Scherer reports that one third of all access technology is abandoned. She discusses reasons for this and talks a good deal about how to remedy the problem by making sure the proper product is recommended and purchased. It is a crime to spend so much money on technology that isn't utilized! One of the saddest thing I know of is when someone goes through fire to get a piece of technology and then is so frustrated by it that they end up not using it. Dr. Scherer's theories on why this happens and what should be done about it are interesting indeed.