Assistive???

If there's one thing I can't stand to hear it is the term "Assistive Technology". No spell checker even knows the term "Assistive"! in fact, if you look in any dictionary before the year, say 1995, you will likely not find this word.

Now, it does appear in Merriam Webster's dictionary and is therein defined as -

"providing aid or assistance; specifically : designed or intended to assist disabled persons " Uuugh!!!

My question is why did a term have to be created when a perfectly good and frankly more appropriate term, "Adaptive" already existed?

This has always irritated me as a person with a disability and I finally figured out why. My problem with it is this: Assistive implies someone else helping but adaptive implies an individual helping themselves. If I always have the mind set that I need assistance to accomplish my goals how can I ever learn to rely on myself to adapt to situations and take care of myself?

This may seem trivial to some but I think it lies at the heart of what is broken in our system of rehabilitation in this country. Of course, I have a problem with the term "rehabilitation" but that's another post.

As people with disabilities I think it is important that we shed the notion of absolute assistance. Sure, as human beings we all need the help of others from time to time but more importantly we have to be able to take care of ourselves. That should be what we try first, to help ourselves.

Adapt is what we must do. We could assist others but we must adapt! Technology whether or not one has a disabilities is tool used to accomplish a task no matter what the circumstances. We use a pen to write, a washing machine to wash clothes and a screen reader to read a screen. All in all it is a tool to accomplish a task.

So enough of this patronizing "assistive" garbage! Lets use available technology to adapt to circumstances and issues and get on with what's important in life. SS