Publication Date
November 2020
44 p
This document is the final in a series of in-depth analyses that identify key barriers and promising market interventions. The previous four documents focused on wheelchairs, hearings aids, prostheses, and eyeglasses.
The report provides market landscapes of 3 areas of digital AT: mobile phones; screen readers; and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices.
A common set of recommendations focused on improving access emerged from the individual product landscapes:
- Develop and adopt policies, including legislation, regulations, minimum product standards, and guidelines to support accessibility and uptake of digital AT at the global and country levels.
- Support governments of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to increase awareness of digital AT by including digital assistive products such as smartphones and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices on national assistive product lists.
- Support innovative financing schemes or negotiate pricing agreements to reduce the cost of digital AT to end users.
- Increase availability of training programmes for users, suppliers, and service providers on the availability of digital AT and digital literacy skills.