Motivations and incentives: exploring assistive technology service delivery from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders

Knowledge and ideas about disability and Assistive Technology (AT) shape society’s construction, funding and delivery of AT services. Concepts such as individualism and objectivity have supported the progression of AT device design and the measurement of AT outcomes. Dominant ideas, however, may suppress other conceptions that offer alternative approaches to, and therefore outcomes of AT service delivery. This paper analyses AT service delivery from the perspectives of key stakeholders, utilizing reflective strategies informed by situational analysis and a pluralistic approach. The complexity of AT service delivery is de-constructed by describing experiences and validating the perceptions of AT users, practitioners and funding schemes, and then identifying the implicit and explicit influences on their actions. It explores the multiple and differing ideas about disability and AT, and discusses these in the context of current policies and systems. It challenges readers to recognize the dominant ideas shaping practice, and consider alternative approaches in an attempt to refine AT service delivery