ny-teknik-och-digitala-losningar-for-okad-inkludering

Summary
On behalf of the Nordic Welfare Centre, professor Jan Gulliksen at
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Stefan Johansson and Mia
Larsdotter at Begripsam, have investigated whether evidence-based
research shows that new digital and technological solutions make it
easier for people with disabilities to get or keep a job.
We have found no strong evidence to support this in documented
research. It would appear that research on the effects of
implementing technology in this field is very rare.
We have noted that the provision of assistive technology primarily
appears to cover products that are relatively old, and it is difficult to
incorporate new and innovative technological solutions into the
current product range. Innovation more often takes place in a
mature technology area, such as hearing technology, rather than a
totally new technology area. Thus, the current system for providing
assistive technology in the Nordic countries appears to preserve the
use of products that have traditionally been used rather than
stimulating the introduction of new digital and technological
innovations. This places assistive technology in stark contrast to
welfare technology, in which technology in the home is
characterised by a diversity of innovators and an influx of new
technical solutions.
What we have been able to find is research that produces advanced
prototypes or single copies of a technological solution, often
research projects where a few individuals have tested a technical
solution, often with good results. In many cases, the research
concerns individual case studies. For example, a single individual will
be involved in developing a very advanced prosthesis. Research
articles presenting this type of work often conclude with a discussion
about the potential of technology. This form of research often stops
at that point. It can be seen as a natural consequence of the research
question, which is often “how can this technology work for this type
of person?”. However, such research is rarely developed further – to
the implementation stage or to evidence-based studies into whether
the technology actually enables more people to get or keep a job.
The context for the research can be a workplace, although this
appears to be more to do with the fact that the workplace is a
suitable environment for working on current research issues, rather
than it being a systematic approach to facilitate employment and
work opportunities for people with disabilities. When such research
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