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Assistive Technologies for Improving Quality of Life

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Assistive Technologies for People with Diverse Abilities

Part of the book series: Autism and Child Psychopathology Series ((ACPS))

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of assistive technology as supports for enhancing the quality of life of people with diverse abilities. When people are faced with congenital or acquired disabilities, these conditions are often viewed negatively as limiting factors to full enjoyment of life. However, people with such conditions have many inherent abilities that can be enhanced with assistive technology to give them better access to a better quality of life. Following a brief introduction to assistive technology and quality of life, this chapter introduces topics covered in the rest of the book: acquired brain injury (Chap. 2), postsecondary students with disabilities (Chap. 3), communication disorders (Chap. 4), visual impairments and blindness (Chap. 5), Autism Spectrum Disorders (Chap. 6), behavior problems (Chap. 7), Alzheimer’s disease (Chap. 8), learning disabilities (Chap. 9), and severe/profound and multiple disabilities (Chap. 10). Taken together, the chapters in this book provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of assistive technologies currently used by people with diverse abilities that exponentially increase their ability to be fully engaged with what life has to offer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Via Quintino Sella 268, 70100, Bari, Italy

    Giulio E. Lancioni

  2. Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA

    Nirbhay N. Singh

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  1. Giulio E. Lancioni
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  2. Nirbhay N. Singh
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Correspondence to Giulio E. Lancioni .

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  1. Dept. Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Giulio E. Lancioni

  2. Dept. Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Georgia, USA

    Nirbhay N. Singh

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Lancioni, G.E., Singh, N.N. (2014). Assistive Technologies for Improving Quality of Life. In: Lancioni, G., Singh, N. (eds) Assistive Technologies for People with Diverse Abilities. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-8029-8_1

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