Technical help

The technical aids or support technologies are the products specifically manufactured or available on the market, whose function is to allow or facilitate the performance of certain actions, in such a way that without their use, these tasks would be impossible or very difficult for an individual to perform in a given situation.

The term technical help is being replaced by that of support product, the ISO 9999:2007 standard itself changes the term with respect to the previous version. The standard defines support product as:

Any product (including devices, equipment, instruments, technology and software) specially manufactured or available on the market, to prevent, compensate, control, mitigate or neutralize deficiencies, limitations on activity and restrictions on participation.

The ISO 9999 standard includes a detailed and complete classification of technical aids. This standard has been modified several times. In the latest revision (ISO 9999:2007) the terminology "Technical Aids" for Support Products.

Wheelchair.

Examples of technical aids:

• Wheelchairs.
• Braille devices.
• Voice synthesis.
• Bathroom help.

Although preferably related to disability and accessibility barriers, the use of technical aids is not only limited to people with disabilities. Thus, a person who tries to talk on a mobile phone in a noisy environment will find a situation similar to that experienced by a person with hearing difficulties. Another example can be the case of the person who tries to use a laptop in a place where visibility is almost zero, caused, for example, by smoke. In this last situation, through the technical help of voice synthesis it would be possible to use the computer correctly.

For the creation of technical aids, concepts and knowledge drawn from ergonomics and other disciplines are used, with the aim that the resulting product is appropriate to the characteristics of the user and allows them to compensate for their limited access to environments or products.

Links

• CEAPAT Technical Support Catalog
• IBV catalogue rated furniture for older persons
• DISCAPACITADOS.ORG.ES Technical assistance, concept and definition Filed on 13 July 2013 in Wayback Machine.