As technology progresses more and more can be achieved in the area of assistive technologies. This tech is directed at increasing inclusion for people with disabilities. The push towards to increase the use and availability of assistive tech is often alongside the push to reduce or replace human support services. Some may ask “Isn’t support a crutch and a dependancy for a situation where accessibility is not given any thought?”.
But support has a very real, vital human role that simple has no chance of being matched by tech in the short, medium or even long term.
For instance Dyslexia. Give dyslexics as many screen readers, voice to text services and password storage utilities as you want. But, if they’re having a bad day they may not even be able to login.
What of those with learning disabilities or autism? Where is the concious Artifical Intelligence that can help them navigate human existance?
You can give a sufferer of Cerebral Palsy a wheel chair. But too much activity will wear them out quicker than most, effecting verbal communication, balance and processing. No equipment can help that. A wheelchair can stop them tripping up but not help them processing thoughts or calming them down.
Ultimately driverless cars, wheelchairs that can climb stairs, implants to allow the deaf to hear will all achieve specific physical actions moving, hearing and doing. But none of them complete these actions to thier full extent. A driverless car can’t load and unload a wheelchair bound driver. A wheelchair might negotiate stairs in this generation but it cannot load or unload a human. Nor can a whellchair give them access to cupboards and drawers and objects that a fully abled person wouldn’t have the slightest issue dealing with.
The assistive tech we have now are specific and incremental improvements in niche areas. They are no match for the flexibility or adapatability of a real human. And for people with mental heath or learning disability issues, there is nothing remotly adequate availble now or in the forseable future.