Adaptive equipment

Mobility assistance

Mobility adaptive equipment are used in cases where a disease or accident leaves an individual's motor functions hindered or unusable. if an individual has restricted motor functions, there are equipment and technology that can assist in regaining some or all mobility.

Types of Mobility Adaptive Equipment

Wheelchair

A manual or motorized wheelchair is a chair with attached wheels that allow a person who cannot walk, due to illness, injury, or disability, to move around.

Crutches

Crutches are devices used to transfer the bodies load from the lower body to the upper body. Crutches are used when one's lower body is not completely immobilized, but impaired.

Prosthetic devices

Prosthetic devices are artificial devices used to replace a missing body part caused from either an illness, accident, or a birth defect.

Orthotic devices

Orthotic devices, or orthoses, are devices used to align, brace, or correct deformities. Orthoses also help to improve the movement of one's joints, spine, or limbs.

Sensory assistance

Sensory/Neurological adaptive equipment are used in cases where an individual lacks proper stimulation of a sense. For instance, individuals who are either blind, mute, deaf, or a combination of them.

Types of Sensory Adaptive Equipment

Hearing aids

Hearing aids are devices used by partially deaf individual to regain a portion of hearing by amplifying sound.

Braille

Braille is a system a raised bumps that allow blind individuals to read text with their fingers. Braille is a code of language and not a language in itself.

Assistive listening devices (ALD)

Assistive listening devices (ALD) are devices used to amplify sounds an individual wants to hear, especially in areas with much background noise. ADLs can be used with hearing aids and cochlear implants to improve the individuals hearing.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices are used to help individuals with communication disorder to express themselves to others. The devices can carry from picture boards to computer assisted speech.

Alerting devices

Alerting devices are assistive devices that connect with doorbells, telephones, and other alarming devices. These devices add a specific alarm based on one's disability. For instance, a deaf individual can have a doorbell that blinks a light instead of a noise to indicate someone is at the door.

References

References

1. McLaughlin Maly, J. (2007). My child needs a piece of adaptive equipment: Now what? Well it depends! The Exceptional Parent, 11(37), 46-47
2. "What are some types of assistive devices & how are they used?".
3. "wheelchair: definition of wheelchair in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)".
4. "What are Prosthetic Devices? (with pictures)".
5. "What are Orthotic Devices? (with pictures)".
6. "hearing aid: definition of hearing aid in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)".
7. "What Is Braille? - American Foundation for the Blind".
8. "Assistive Devices for People with Hearing, Voice, Speech, or Language Disorders".