How does assistive technology help people with a spinal cord injury?

Assistive technology is typically viewed as something electronic or gadgety, if you will, to help people to be able to accomplish the things that they need to do. A good example would be voice-activated software for your computer so that somebody doesn’t have to rely on typing. They can train this particular system to learn their voice.  We all use it now with our own technology, and so this has been a huge help for people to be able to communicate, and access the Internet and basically the world through voice.

So assistive technology looks at how are you going to access your keyboard when you have limited hand function?—how are you going to hold a stylus or operate an iPhone or Smartphone without finger dexterity? We’re trying to problem-solve how are you going to go back to using those things in this technology-driven world when you don’t necessarily have finger function? Say you’re a 23-year-old college kid and you’re majoring in journalism, and you need to go back and use your computer to write your essays. So there’re different programs that use voice-activated systems so that you can use to write your paper without having to type.