Slutrapport Uppsala inklusive bilaga 1-6 - Hjälpmedelsinstitutet

Abstract
Habilitation and Assistive Technology Services, Uppsala County Council,
Sweden has on behalf of the Swedish Institute of Assistive Technology
(HI), carried out a pilot project Alternatives to Alternative Telephony. The
objective was to increase consumer used technology as an assistive
technology in order to enable electronic communication at a distance.
To be unable to make one-self understood due some form of disability
represents a risk of isolation from other people and the community at large
as interpersonal contacts with others people, public utilities etc. are
hampered and reduced. It is easy to find one-self in a situation where one is
dependant on other people to be able to participate in everyday life and to
stay informed. Assistive technology offered today (i. e text- and
videophones) can at present only be used to communicate with those
persons who have access to the same equipment. Moreover, they can only
be used from that place where they have been installed. Those conditions
limit the possibilities for the user to at the same time be mobile and able to
call someone, or be contacted by phone. The Uppsala County Council
project was carried out in three units and included people with
deafness/severe hearing disability, people with deafblindness and people
with speech and/or language disorder. The participants were offered to use
Pads or Smartphones in combination with Skype, which increased the
participants’ possibilities to be active and participate. Their experiences of
the possibility to be mobile and at the same time able to communicate with
people from a distance were very positive, especially by persons with
deafness and deafblindness. The participants with speech/language disorder
needed a lot of support and personal adaptation to be able to use Skype.
When using it they and the people they communicated with, expressed that
they experienced a great benefit from the possibility to be able to see each
other while they were communicating. This group also expressed that it was
more important that the equipment was easy to use than being able to
communicate while being mobile.
Whether consumer used technology should be offered as assistive
technology free of charge or whether the consumers should pay for these
devices themselves must be based on regional political decisions. The
responsibility to provide advice and support concerning assistive technology
should however lie with the county council. The development technology is
rapid there is a professional challenge to keep informed in order to provide
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