OVERCOMING DISABILITY BARRIERS WITH REHABILITATION TECHNOLOGY

Rehabilitation technology helps injured persons overcome the limitations that come with physical disability, allowing them to lead a life of comfort and integrity. When a person suffers a stroke, chances of her becoming disabled in doing certain tasks are quite high. In case of an injury, rehabilitation is required for the patients to be in the best possible shape. Extensive research in the field of healthcare has led to people realizing how technology can be used in stroke rehabilitation. A major innovation in stroke rehabilitation technology is video games especially developed for patients who have suffered a stroke.

Alzheimer’s is a disease that disrupts a person’s ability to remember events. In Alzheimer’s, a patient can even forget about the food that she had only sometime back. patients with this problem can be helped with technology too. Currently, there are certain mobile applications that can help in Alzheimer’s. These applications focus on reminding patients about the activities from the past and alarming them about the activities that they need to do throughout the day.

Challenges faced by children with disabilities are different and require extensive focus during rehab. Researchers have been earnestly working to help these children in developing social skills and becoming employable later on. With the help of Tablet PCs, these children are able to enhance their cognitive and motor skills. This is because these PCs are touch enhanced, unlike the stereotype keyboard PCs that require excessive motor usage. These technologies enable the children to become self-sufficient and independent.

Rehabilitation technologies are available for everyone to use, but for some odd reason they’ve failed to achieve mass adoption. One of the main reasons is that the majority of the people with disabilities don’t know how technology can help them during rehabilitation. On the other hand, people who know how technology can help in medical rehabilitation cannot afford it. Research to make these technologies more affordable and popular is on.

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