Assistive Technologies for Children, Young People and Adults

Dear colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue on Assistive Technologies for Children, Young People, and Adults in Environmental Research and Public Health. The venue is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health. For detailed information on the journal, we refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Assistive technologies’ relationship with public health is recognized, since they enable people to stay active and independent and facilitate participation in education, work, and civic life. They also have the potential to reduce institutional care and care-giver burden. In spite of this, the link between assistive technology and health on a national level is weak in most countries, and few, including high -income countries, have a national assistive technology policy or program. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that only 1 in 10 people globally have access to needed assistive products. The problem is more acute in low- and middle-income countries, having a great impact on people’s opportunities regarding work, education, and well-being. To address these problems, the WHO launched the program Global cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE), emphasizing that access to assistive technology offers a public health solution to meet the needs of 21st century populations.

Assistive technology is an umbrella term for technologies that are used to maintain, increase, or improve the functional capabilities of people with disabilities, including people whose abilities decline because of age. Related concepts and areas include, for example, accessibility, universal design, information and communication technologies (ICT), and smart environments. The digitalization of nearly all parts of society has not only changed the technical landscape but also our habits and how we perform everyday activities, and, increasingly, accessibility features are being built into mainstream products.

Considering the huge potential assistive technologies have on people’s health, well-being, and participation in society, the body of research that links assistive technologies to people’s opportunities for a healthy and active life is incomprehensively scare. Research is needed on the design and development of accessible products; the usability of assistive technologies for intended groups, services, and regulations related to assistive technologies; standardization in the area; the usability of products; and most urgent intervention studies in which the effect of assistive technologies for people’s everyday lives and participation is researched. Thus, we are inviting research on all aspects of assistive technologies; we provide some keywords below that suggest just a few of the many possibilities.

Prof. Dr. Helena Hemmingsson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.