54 million Americans have a disability. Said more clearly, one in five Americans have a disability. Extended globally there are more than 610 million people in the world with some sort of disability or special needs (Manning-Schaffel, 2007). Upon reviewing most available market analysis it is apparent that this group is not being directly market to on a large scale. Likewise there is both a great need and many new opportunities as technology quickly advances. From a financial perspective this group is spending $8.8 billion USD worldwide on assistive devices primarily being pushed through medical representatives. This market is projected to reach $11 billion USD by 2015 and to continue at a 5%+ growth rate thereafter ("Assistive devices for," 2011). So there exists a subsection of the population whose spending is exploding worldwide, who is generally not being marketed to outside of core medical applications, who is beginning to become increasingly dependent on mobile technology such as phones and tablets. I became aware of this underserved market when Apple gave my son, a stroke survivor, a free iPad to use with his speech therapy. When I sat down with the therapist and asked which apps would be most useful she sadly said that while there is a lot of potential for this type of technology the apps in this market are either poorly developed or horribly overpriced. The app she ended up recommending us cost almost $200 USD. While at first we did not want to spend that much in the end we were left very disappointed by the apps cost just $20 or $30 USD. After spending this enormous amount of money on said application we gave it to my son to grow with. Unfortunately to our surprise, he hated the app. Looking at the app myself it was cle... ... middle of paper ... ...ouraging users to share the apps via social media. I believe that because I have a very targeted approach on a group that is generally underserved and not being market to I stand a good change at establishing a consistent source of revenue. Works Cited G. Nickels, W., M. McHugh, J., & M. McHugh, S. (2013).Understanding business. (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Manning-Schaffel, V. (Feb, 2007). Special brands for special needs. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=353 (2011). Assistive devices for special needs: Technologies and global markets. BCC Research, 374, Retrieved from http://www.marketresearch.com/BCC-Research-v374/Assistive-Devices-Special-Technologies-Global-6122386/ Ibarra, K. (2011, Nov 07). Designing apps for kids. UX Magazine, 762, Retrieved from http://uxmag.com/articles/designing-apps-for-kids
Burrow, J. L., & Kleindl, B. (2008). Business management. (13th ed., p. 562). Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Marshall, C. A., Kendall, E., Banks, M. E., & Gover, R. S. (2009). Disabilities Vol. 2. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Individuals who are deaf or are hearing impaired are faced with many problems in today’s world. There are so many tasks and activities that are done today that deaf or hearing impaired people may have difficulty doing because of there handicap. There handicap used to stop them or inhibit them from doing something that they are interested in or there friends and neighbors would do. However in today there are new and different technologies, that help the deaf and hearing impaired in the activities in which they want to participate in which is hard for them to take part in because of there handicap. Technology is used to help with everyday tasks in the lives of deaf and hearing impaired individuals. With out this new technology which is being invented everyday, deaf and hearing impaired people may be considered to have a handicap which prevents them from certain activities, but this is not the case anymore, now these people just have different obstacles which through the use of technology they are learning to over come. They can do anything that regular normal range of hearing individuals can do, due to the new technology being invented everyday.
As stated on The Iris Center’s website (Page 3: Assistive Technology Services) is very important to always consider both devices and services when considering the usage of assistive technology. The devices are important to benefit the individual and overcome challenges and barriers the disability might provide. Whereas, the services assist the individual in the selection, purchase, or usage of AT. Services also coordinate training and assistance for the individual/student, family, teachers, and others that are involved and impacted by the device.
It is of utmost importance that these devices involve little or no disturbance to its user’s ordinary life and subsequently has many positive effects on their daily activities. Although as a nation we have a preconceived idea that Assistive Technology is complex, highly expensive products, this is not always the case. Assistive Technology devices can be characterised into low and high technology. According to Wendt, Quist and Lloyd (2011) low technology involves technological devices that are simple to make, are readily available and inexpensive. On the other hand high technology devices are often complicated,...
At the iPad center the students use a specific app that Mrs. Zeek tells them to use. I have seen the children use the apps Epic and Xtra Math. Epic is a reading app that reads stories to the child. Xtra Math is an app that allows the students to practice math skills through games. I thought it was interesting that Mrs. Zeek had a box full of laminated QR codes, one for each student, so the students can sign into Xtra Math with that. I did not even know that was possible! The children absolutely love using the iPads. Mrs. Zeek also showed me an app that she has on her iPad called Classroom, which allows her to see what all the children are doing on their individual iPads. This is a very handy app, especially for higher grades so students cannot do inappropriate things on the iPads. We talked about app selection in class and these two apps seem to meet all of the qualities such as easy navigation, student engagement, and developmental appropriateness. There is also a listening center where the children listen and follow along with books on CD or cassette tape. Mrs. Zeek lets the children start and stop the CD player on their own, but she does not let them change the
An ageing population and rapidly developing technology is creating new business opportunities, especially in health care devices. Technology for health purposes are becoming frequently more popular in the common household as people are more aware of their own wellbeing. This increase of household health products helps improve the wellbeing of elderly people, thus their quality of life. However, despite numerous existing devices already in the market, there is an existing gap for products that target more life-threatening health issues while being incorporated
During my first Level II fieldwork experience, I had the pleasure of running an LSVT Big program with my FWE for individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease. The LSVT Big program aimed to improve the patient’s motor functioning and although over time the exercise program seemed to increase their functional mobility, I believe that many of the patient’s would have benefited from the use of assistive technology to help them perform their activities of daily living. Based on the readings, the model that I believe would have worked best with this population is the Human Activity Assistive Technology (HAAT) model. The HAAT model has three components: human (person), activity (occupation), and assistive technology. These three components occur
The objective of this research is to help a company or an entrepreneur understand the business environment better as well as customers’ needs and, therefore, make better business decisions.
Shah, Sonali. “Podium: Don’t hold back the disabled.” 6 January 1999. COMMENT pg. 4. 4 November 2008.
... CLD info sheets: assistive technology. Council for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved on April 24, 2005, from http://www.cldinternational.org/c/@CS_yKIo7l8ozY/Pages/assistive.html
There was once a time when companies used to spend heavily on publishing, compelling, ads on newspapers and magazines just to put the word out there, but times have changed and so have the medium used to broadcast these ads. Nowadays, companies use the internet to spread the news, to be more specific, companies use the social media as an advertising tool. Over the years, social media has vastly changed the way we communicate and interact with one another, some examples of such social media might be Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube etc. This kind of interacting tools are now been used by businesses to sell or advertise their products, one might say that the social media is the modern day substitute for newspapers and magazines. One company that has been doing this heavily is Android (owned by Google), Android ads can be seen in every corner of the internet whether be famous sites like Facebook or now extinct ones such as Myspace, although one such social media that they haven’t been using is XDA developers. The site predominantly focuses on software development and discussion for Android, Windows, Ubuntu Touch, and Bada phones etc. The following paper will discuss and analyze their audience and argue why XDA developers is the best social media platform to advertise smartphone operating system companies such as Android to the general public and developers.
The research shows the many constraints and barriers that exist, and general physical access is still the major constraint encountered by people with a physical disabi...
With our ever changing technology and the digital age, competition has become fierce. If companies do not keep up with the new technology, the business may not be profitable and could end up suffering severe hardships. I want to know how each department of a business works for the greater good of the corporation. I want to learn how they complement each other to make a company profitable. It is my goal to learn each aspect, starting at the hourly employee though the Chief Executive Officer. This includes production, finance, marketing and sales. It is my hope to have a clear vision of how a corporation becomes and stays successful throughout the years. I want to understand what it takes to make a business successful in today’s world. I want to see how a corporation becomes successful from the ground up.
In todays society our world revolves around technology. We use it in our everyday lives. It makes great sense that inventors would create new technology and make technology that is already used, easier for people with disabilities. From the blind to the handicapped and the deaf, there is no doubt you will be able to find some form of technology that will be of great help to them. These people with disabilities face barriers in their day to day life. However, it is technology that is making overcoming those barriers possible. There are some issues that arise as well. These would mainly consist of environmental barriers, having to learn new technology and cost. Even though there are issues that arise, technology is making the everyday task manageable