Most homes accumulate adaptive equipment by accident. A hospital discharge sends a walker home. A cousin donates an old commode. A well-meaning friend drops off a reacher. Over time, the closet fills with items nobody is quite sure how to use. A better approach is to build an inventory on purpose — a short, deliberate list of equipment that matches the specific person and the specific home. This guide walks through the categories a well-prepared household should consider.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: Mobio Marketing

Wheelchair user alone beside a canal in a city setting

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Why 30% of Assistive Technology Gets Abandoned — and What Actually Prevents It

Approximately one in three pieces of assistive technology is abandoned within the first year of use. That figure has been replicated across multiple countries, device categories, and user populations. It represents not only wasted money — often public money — but a significant harm to the people who needed the device, tried it, and quietly gave up. Understanding why abandonment happens is the first step to preventing it.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: Ben Allan

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Assistive Technology 101: Matching Tools to Daily Routines

Assistive technology is any tool, device, or piece of software that helps someone do a task they would otherwise struggle with. The category is enormous — from a three-dollar jar opener to a twenty-thousand-dollar powered wheelchair — and that breadth is exactly what makes it confusing. The clearest way to think about assistive technology is not by product category but by daily routine. Walk through a typical day, find the moments that are harder than they should be, and you will find the right tools quickly.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: EnabledHub editorial import

Caregiver pushing a wheelchair user through a park path

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The Assistive Technology Assessment Process: Four Steps to the Right Device

Getting the right piece of assistive technology is not a shopping decision — it is an assessment process. The distinction matters. Shopping starts with products. Assessment starts with the person, their goals, and the contexts where they live. Federici and Scherer's Assistive Technology Assessment (ATA) model, developed through international clinical and research collaboration, organizes this process into four clear steps. Families and users who understand these steps are far better equipped to navigate the system.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: Raj Tuladhar

Two mobility aid users moving through an urban neighborhood

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The Biopsychosocial Model: How Modern Rehabilitation Actually Thinks About Disability

When families enter the rehabilitation and assistive technology system, they often carry a purely medical framing of disability: diagnosis causes impairment, impairment causes limitation, and the goal is to fix or compensate for the impairment. That framing shapes what questions get asked, what interventions get tried, and what counts as success. But it is not how contemporary rehabilitation science actually understands disability — and understanding the difference leads to better decisions.

15. Apr. 20263 min

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Bildnachweis: Max Bender

Two people using mobility scooters outdoors on a terrace

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Choosing Adaptive Equipment: The Factors That Actually Matter

Picking the right adaptive equipment is rarely about finding the \"best\" product on a list. It is about matching a specific person, a specific task, and a specific environment. The same rollator that transforms one person's independence can end up folded in a closet for someone else. Before you buy, rent, or borrow, work through the factors below — they are the same ones occupational therapists use in clinical decision making.

15. Apr. 20263 min

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Bildnachweis: Will Greer

Friends socializing with a wheelchair user outdoors

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Disability as Interaction: Why Environment Matters as Much as Diagnosis

For most of the twentieth century, disability was treated as a fact about a person's body. You had a diagnosis, the diagnosis created the limitation, and the job of medicine was to fix or compensate for that limitation. That view still shapes how many insurance codes, benefit forms, and clinical conversations are written. But it is no longer how the field itself thinks about disability, and understanding the shift is essential for anyone choosing assistive technology.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: Elevate

Wheelchair user reaching a kitchen drawer in an accessible home

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The HAAT Model: A Simple Framework for Choosing Assistive Technology

When families start shopping for assistive technology, the default question is \"which product is best?\" That is almost always the wrong first question. Clinicians who work in this field every day use a different starting point — a framework called the Human Activity Assistive Technology model, or HAAT. It was introduced by Albert Cook and Susan Hussey in the mid-1990s and has become one of the most widely used tools for matching people to equipment. Understanding it in plain language can transform how a family makes decisions.

15. Apr. 20264 min

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Bildnachweis: CDC