Are mainstream mobile technologies bringing about new opportunities for people with disabilities? Insights from three...

The market of mobile technologies has considerably increased in the past few years and the costs have consequently decreased. This rapid technological evolution can be seen in two different ways from the perspective of people with disability: on the one side it represents a great opportunity to create new solutions for improving independence; on the other it may represent a source of social exclusion if appropriate assistive solutions are not available to make technology usable by people with disability. This paper describe three case studies of persons with disabilities that have undergone an Assistive Technology assessment at the DAT service of Fondazione Don Gnocchi (Milan, Italy) involving the use of mobile ICT based Assistive Technologies. In all the three cases the appropriate solution for performing the desired activities is represented by a combination of mainstream products and assistive products. The three use cases described support the idea that mobile technologies can be powerful and versatile instruments to create assistive solutions for improving independence in daily life.