Towards an inclusive society in Asia: the invisible helping hand

Asia has come a long way in its laborious journey towards an inclusive society - one that allows full participation and equality for people with disability (PWD). The imminent aging population in Asia has injected a new-found urgency among the Asian legislators to get their countries prepared in anticipation of an explosive number of elderly people with geriatric disabilities. From the concluded Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002) to the Biwako Millennium Framework (2003-2012), the efforts led by the United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific have been predominantly focusing on using government policies to build the two pillars of an inclusive society: A barrier-free society and empowerment of the PWD. Notwithstanding that policy is the most powerful tool for solving the issues of the PWD, it cannot do it all by itself. The top-down nature of policy would better serve the cause in overcoming the barriers than in the empowerment of the PWD. In this paper, we advocate empowerment of the PWD through the use of technology. While policy provides the framework to integrate the PWD back into the mainstream society, technology can enhance their capability and give them a chance to compete in the real world. To popularize technology usage among the PWD, it is vital to develop an assistive and rehabilitative technology industry in Asia. Taking a leaf from philosopher Adam Smith's famed theory of the 'Invisible Hand'; the authors believe the best way forward for the Asian assistive and rehabilitative technology industry is to grow it into a sustainable and profitable one without intervention and protection from the government. When there is money to be made, more players will enter the industry, thus providing better services and innovative products at more competitive prices and in consequence, the PWD will become the eventual winners.