Rethinking Disability Through Adaptation and Assistive Technology

Dear Colleagues,

Dr Nathan Bray, Dr Jaci Huws, Hannah Jelley, and Dr Carys Stringer are excited to announce that they will be serving as Guest Editors for a Special Issue titled "Rethinking Disability Through Adaptation and Assistive Technology" in the journal Societies.

People who live with long-term disabilities and chronic conditions often require assistive technologies to promote participation in education, work, and social/leisure activities, and more generally to independently undertake activities of daily living.

Assistive technology is a broad term which refers to many different devices and interventions, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, home adaptations, augmentative/alternative communication aids, environmental controls, aids for personal care and so on. More than 30% of the global population utilises one or more assistive technologies, and demand for these is rising. The use of both physical and digital technology can therefore be extremely important for promoting the health and equality of opportunity for people who have impairments. However, as many as 70% of assistive technologies are abandoned prematurely due to issues with design and usability.

In this Special Issue, we invite articles, conceptual papers, and reviews that investigate the relationship between assistive technology and disability in new and innovative ways. We are particularly interested in contributions that either (1) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different assistive technologies or (2) explore the relationship between technology, adaptation, and quality of life.

Dr. Nathan Bray
Dr. Jaci Huws
Dr. Hannah Jelley
Dr. Carys Stringer
Guest Editors

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 conceptual papers are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies 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 1400 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.