As my Grandmother advances in age her safety is of increasing concern to my family. She wants to live independently and there are no insurmountable barriers to her doing so - but her age and increased frailty have set the family upon a mission to ensure her safety.
At this point, most of us have seen the old commercial "I've fallen and I can't get up"! This ad is for a specific brand of Personal Emergency Response Systems - a sort of assistive technology that use electronic sensors connected to an alarm system to help caregivers manage risk and help vulnerable people stay independent at home longer.
In my research, I found that these alerts can be customized to the particular person's risks - opening the potential for usefulness to a wide variety of persons with disabilities. When the alert is triggered, a message is sent to a caregiver or contact center who can respond appropriately. For example, the device structure can be modified to include gas sensors so that if a person with cognitive disabilities leaves the gas on, the device turns off the gas and notifies caregivers.
This a good example of how the design of a piece of Assistive Technology is critical to its usefulness. People with cognitive disabilities (or any other identified user group) must be involved in the design process to make sure that the design is accessible and usable. In the example above, a voice message could be used to remind the person with cognitive disabilities to turn off the gas himself, but whose voice should be used, and what should the message say? Questions like these must be answered through user consultation, involvement and evaluation.
Fascinating times as these technologies evolve!
Holly Morgan
VP Programs
Easter Seals Washington
hmorgan@wa.easterseals.com
Personal emergency response system helps the people especially for those who stay alone to signal the presence of a hazard or an unexpected health condition. No matter of the place, the transmitted signals can bring the help right at the instant.
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