One of the “World Health Organization’s Assistive Technology Team is to promote access to safe and effective assistive technology for everyone who needs it. In a recent blog post, they focused on the use of the terms assistive technology and assistive products”.

“Terms including assistive devices, assistive products, medical devices, assistive tech, and assistive technologies are often used inconsistently and interchangeably”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) comes to help. It “defines assistive technology as ‘the application of organized knowledge and skills related to assistive products, including systems and services.’ Assistive products are ‘any external product (including devices, equipment, instruments or software)… the primary purpose of which is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence, and thereby promote their well-being’. Put simply, assistive products are the products and assistive technology is the whole ecosystem that is needed for their safe and effective provision and use”.

These are just some excerpts from the dedicated blog article https://at2030.org/assistive-technology,-what-is-in-a-name?/ as a reminder to “focus not only on the products but also on the systems and services that are so key to ensuring a person is able to make optimum use of their assistive product/s”.