Understanding the end user

The consideration of user types becomes more complex with contemporary AT as separate devices are integrated onto single platforms to become integrated at a systems level and there may be multiple users, systems, and services accessing the technology. In line with this theory, the US Tech Act Amendments of 1994 articulate support for active end user and family participation in decisions about AT provision, including establishing goals and objectives, device assessment and selection, and preferences and evaluation in service delivery across all users of state-wide technology-related assistance programs. Including end users as partners in the design and development of technology enables them to guide the process and discourages the obsolete notion of designing for a “condition that needs to be fixed”. Shifting epistemological views are increasingly challenging technology developers to delve deeper into how technology can be made to inherently support more complex ideas of selfhood.