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Special feature on Rehabilitation Technology
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Editorial Special feature
on Rehabilitation
Technology
This special feature comprises papers drawn from two meetings which took place in mid-1994. “Future Integrated Solutions” was organized by the ACE Centre at St Catherines College, Oxford, and “Integrated Solutions in Rehabilitation Technology” by the IPSM/BES Rehabilitation Special Interest Group at Barnsley District General Hospital. The theme of these meetings, and the theme of this special feature, is integration-the bringing together of different technologies and services to provide solutions to the problems faced by people with physical disabilities. These papers cover integration within and between technologies aimed at facilitating mobility, communication, computer access and home control. Integrated solutions in rehabilitation technology require a holistic approach to design and provision, placing the end user at the centre of the process. Providing technological solutions to the needs of people with physical disabilities requires a high degree of engineering expertise but also requires input from other professionals, for example medical, therapy and teaching, as well as from the users and their carers. That both meetings attracted large and multi-disciplinary audiences, with participants from several European countries, reflects the growing importance of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology. Growth in these areas is further evidenced by the success of the European Community’s TIDE (Telematics for Disabled and Elderly people) programme, which today is funding a substantial amount of research and development in Assistive Technolbgy and also by the increasing amount ofjournal space being given over to these subjects, with an expansion internationally in the number of journals dedicated to them. It is hoped that recognition of the important role to be played by engineers in the provision of equipment and services to people with disabilities will be enhanced by the publication of these papers. Mark Hawley Guest Editor
Editorial Special feature
on Rehabilitation
Technology
This special feature comprises papers drawn from two meetings which took place in mid-1994. “Future Integrated Solutions” was organized by the ACE Centre at St Catherines College, Oxford, and “Integrated Solutions in Rehabilitation Technology” by the IPSM/BES Rehabilitation Special Interest Group at Barnsley District General Hospital. The theme of these meetings, and the theme of this special feature, is integration-the bringing together of different technologies and services to provide solutions to the problems faced by people with physical disabilities. These papers cover integration within and between technologies aimed at facilitating mobility, communication, computer access and home control. Integrated solutions in rehabilitation technology require a holistic approach to design and provision, placing the end user at the centre of the process. Providing technological solutions to the needs of people with physical disabilities requires a high degree of engineering expertise but also requires input from other professionals, for example medical, therapy and teaching, as well as from the users and their carers. That both meetings attracted large and multi-disciplinary audiences, with participants from several European countries, reflects the growing importance of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology. Growth in these areas is further evidenced by the success of the European Community’s TIDE (Telematics for Disabled and Elderly people) programme, which today is funding a substantial amount of research and development in Assistive Technolbgy and also by the increasing amount ofjournal space being given over to these subjects, with an expansion internationally in the number of journals dedicated to them. It is hoped that recognition of the important role to be played by engineers in the provision of equipment and services to people with disabilities will be enhanced by the publication of these papers. Mark Hawley Guest Editor