The Assistive Technology Development Triangle: Knowledge/Ability/Materials – Erik Kondo

The Assistive Technology Development Triangle follows the same concept of the Fire Triangle that is widely used in fire prevention education as a means to convey how to prevent and extinguish fires. A fire requires the combination of fuel, oxygen, and heat to ignite and be sustained. Whereas the Assistive Technology Development Triangle (ATDT) is a model for understanding what is needed to enable the innovation, development, and production of assistive technology devices.

There is a well-documented need for Assistive Technology (AT) devices worldwide, particularly in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) and also in rural/poor areas of High Income Countries (HICs). Therefore, it is not uncommon for well-meaning people within engineering, medical, craftsman, and nonprofit domains to design AT devices intended for use in LMICs. Unfortunately, many of these efforts are unlikely to succeed on a sustained basis due to one or more missing or insufficient element of the ATDT. Successful long term provision of AT requires the existence of a robust ATT as described below.

The Assistive Technology Development Triangle consists of the three elements of KAM:

1. Knowledge: The knowledge and know how to build/repair/maintain/use the AT devices.

3. Ability: The ability to make the AT devices via the availability of the tools, workshops, facilities, and the trained people required to build/repair/maintain them.

2. Materials: The materials and manufactured parts needed to construct the AT devices in terms of local supply chains and imports of critical non-locally available components.

The ATDT can also be applied to evaluating Systemic (wide scale), Situational (geographic), and Personal (individual) assistive technology solutions. For example, China has both the Ability and Materials to produce sufficient AT for the entire world, but not necessarily the Knowledge. Individual maker spaces and workshops typically have the Ability to make AT, but the lack the Knowledge and access to critical Materials. Some individuals may process the required Knowledge but lack either the Ability or Materials required. Therefore, each situation needs to be looked at independently with these three elements in mind.

Getting back to the Fire Triangle analogy, this is not any different than examining large (forest), medium (building), and small (kitchen) fires. They all require fuel, oxygen, and heat no matter how big or small. So too does the development/repair/maintenance of Assistive Technology require Knowledge, Ability, and Materials at every level.

It is helpful to examine what the ecosystem of highly successful assistive technology looks like. Relative to wheelchairs, the bicycle is a worldwide success story of assistive technology for able-bodied people. The bicycle industry has all three elements of Knowledge, Ability, and Materials in most places in the world (to varying degrees). As a result, bicycles (unlike wheelchairs) are widely available at many price points, they are readily repaired and maintained through a worldwide network of bicycle shops, experienced mechanics, and universal parts distributors and manufacturers.

The current boom in Artificial Intelligence provides an example of intentionally expanding a specific assistive technology. In this case, society is spending a tremendous amount of money to develop AI by creating increased capacity of Knowledge, Ability, and Materials through funding Universities, AI Companies, Data Centers, Power Generation, etc.

AI illustrates how funding can drive the development of new KAM. Bicycles exemplify how KAM can become imbedded into the fabric of society over the long term.

The development of assistive technology is the result of encouraging the growth and integration of KAM on all levels. When society further recognizes the many benefits of assistive technology, more resources will naturally arise. And just like fire, the more easily it can be made, the more assistive technology can grow and spread.