Conceptual Framework for Designing Assistive Technologies in the User’s Working Environment
摘要
Employment is crucial to ensure economic independence and social inclusion. Unfortunately, people with disabilities today have a meager employment rate, and the jobs they are employed in are mostly telephone operators, shopkeepers, or lower-skilled workers. In the Republic of Croatia, there are 271,334 working-age individuals with disabilities, but only 16,944 meet the criteria for employment. With the development of information and communication technology and assistive technologies in an appropriate manner, it is possible to increase the level of employment and increase productivity. In addition, people with disabilities would be given greater opportunities in choosing jobs, which would increase their satisfaction and level of quality of life. In this paper, the possibilities of applying assistive technology in the work environment for different types of user impairments are analyzed. Based on established knowledge about modeling and developing new assistive technologies, a conceptual framework for designing and developing assistive technologies in the work environment is proposed. The proposed framework contributes to creating standardized assistive technologies depending on different application environments with an emphasis on user education. The conceptual framework is based on elements of TM Forum’s open digital framework/architecture.