Supporting Independent Living: A Comprehensive Analysis of Technology's Role

This report explores the use of technology in supporting independent living for individuals with disabilities. It examines the various technologies available, their benefits and limitations, ethical considerations, and the impact of emerging technological advancements. The report also analyzes a case study of Sally, a woman with vision impairment, numbness, and memory loss, to illustrate how technology can be used to enhance her independence. Furthermore, it discusses the specific needs of Jane, a 59-year-old woman with chronic health problems, limited mobility, and learning disabilities, and recommends technological solutions to support her independent living.

Supporting Independent Living

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
L01....................................................................................................................................................3
1.1- EXPLANATION OF THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN BE UTILISED TO SUPPORT THE
USERS TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY..................................................................................................3
1.2- ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENT BARRIERS IN THE USAGE OF THE TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS
SUPPORTED THE INDIVIDUAL LIVING OF THE USERS OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES.....................5
1.3- EVALUATION OF THE DIFFERENT BENEFITS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES..............................7
LO2...................................................................................................................................................8
2.1- EXPLAINATION OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE USAGE OF THE
TECHNOLOGIES............................................................................................................................8
2.2- DISCUSSION ON THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE USAGE OF THE TECHNOLOGY. .10
2.3- EXPLAINATION OF THE DIFFERENT IMPACTS DUE TO THE RECENT AND THE EMERGING
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS............................................................................................11
LO3.................................................................................................................................................13
3.1- IDENTIFICATION OF THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL REQUIRING SUPPORT TO LIVE
INDEPENDENTLY........................................................................................................................13
3.2- RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN MAKING INDEPENDENT
ARRANGEMENTS........................................................................................................................14
3.3- EVALUATION OF THE USEFULNESS OF THE TECHNOLOGY BY SERVICES USERS................17
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................19
1

INTRODUCTION
Technology has become a part of the day to day lives of the people. There are different
emerging technologies in the world like the mobile phones, email communication, internet
sources, remote control devices and different machines in the field of the health care. The
advancement in the technology has helped the various individuals to access and avail the
services of the social care and health by which they independently live their lives. This
assignment is majorly based on the understanding of the different technologies in supporting
the independent living of the people.
The different barriers of the technology to the healthcare and its users are being analysed in
this report. Along with this, the different benefits are also being explained. The different ethical
considerations while using the technologies in the healthcare are discussed along with their
impacts. The specific needs of an individual that require the support to live independently and
the usefulness of some of the technologies of this field are evaluated.
2

L01
1.1- EXPLANATION OF THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN BE UTILISED TO
SUPPORT THE USERS TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY
The people suffering from the different kinds of disabilities are being benefited by the various
advancements in the technology and medicine during the last few years. It has been stated by
the UK parliament that the individuals suffering from some disabilities must have similar kind of
freedom, control and choices as like the other individuals at the work, family or in their
community (Dickinson. and Gregor, 2016). In this particular case study, Sally is suffering from
the different kinds of disabilities like the numbness, double vision due to which her regular day
to day work started getting affected as she was facing difficulties in performing the different
activities. The advancements in the technology do not means that the disabled person can do
everything by themselves it only means that they can decide and look after any assistance with
their own choices (Onguti, et al. 2017).
As the Sally has been suffering from the vision impairment or double vision the use of the
assistive technology and devices are being used like the eye patch to deal with her vision issue
and minimise its effect. With the help of the given case study, it has been realized that the
treatments given to the patients must be from their own choices and consent. The Sally is
facing numbness in her right side of the body part for which Occupation Therapist an ankle-foot
orthosis is being suggested for improving her right foot and better mobility. She was facing
issues in typing also for which a special large keyboard was provided to her that possess the
illuminating keys ((Townsley, 2010).
Sally is also facing issues in the driving the car steering with both the hands for which a sponge
knob on the steering wheel and a left foot accelerator was provided to teach her the new
methods of driving. To improve the memory of the Sally she was given the Personal digital
Assistant also known as the Pocket Coach which will remind her about what to do next by just
3

a single click of a button (Dadlani, et al. 2011). These technological methods have helped Sally
in supporting an individual living.
4

1.2- ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENT BARRIERS IN THE USAGE OF THE
TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS SUPPORTED THE INDIVIDUAL LIVING OF THE USERS
OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES
In order to encourage the usage of the supporting technology by the individuals those are
suffering from some disabilities or the users of the healthcare services to become independent
the barriers of the technology acts as a wall. Various barriers are being faced by the service
users during the support technologies usage like the high cost of treatments or devices,
difficulties to access the technology, issues in the training, issues in maintaining the
technological equipment and some other mechanical breakdown during the usage of the
support services (Gibson, et al. 2015)
The instruments and gadgets of the supporting technology are of high costs due to the usage of
advanced technology and costly processors inside them. In the current case study, Sally who
has been suffering from vision impairment and memory loss has been provided PDA to improve
her day to day activities and remember her tasks. PDA is a highly expensive gadget as it is built
on the advanced technology whose maintenance cost is also high as it requires a proper
internet connection and battery replacements from time to time(Piwek, et al. 2016).
Proper training is required by the service users to handle the technological gadgets and
instruments for the proper support of the individual living like the Sally must be provided with
the effective training to use the PDA to remember her work and to use the special keyboards to
improve her typing. Some technological or mechanical breakdown might occur in the PDA, left
foot accelerator or in the keyboard which needs to be handled by some expert. As in the case
of the Sally, she needs to look after the assistance of some expert for the proper service and
maintenance of her assisted gadgets (Gibson, et al. 2015).
5

These barriers to technology can be reduced by the proper training and a little cut down on the
cost of the equipment's so that the individuals can effectively utilise them for independent
living.
6

1.3- EVALUATION OF THE DIFFERENT BENEFITS OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES
The development of the supporting technology for the individuals has helped to reduce the
difficulties of the individuals that they are facing while dealing with the different disabilities.
The technological improvements in the field of the health care have made the life of the people
easy and made them empowered and independent. Sally is suffering from the different
disabilities and facing issues in driving the steering of the car which is resolved with the help of
the sponge knob on the steering wheel and by providing a left side accelerator in the car which
has led to the support in her independent living (Stoddart and Evans, 2017).
There are different benefits that the Personal digital Assistance has in the life of the Sally like it
helps her in remembering what work to do next and in the improvement of her memory that is
getting poor due to the numbness
(Varshney, 2016). The PDA has also benefitted her to recognize what should be avoided to
avoid any kind of issues in her day to day life like forgetting to take the medicines on time. The
use of the assistive technology has improved the independence level of the Sally and the in the
minimization of the different risks and the issues (Stoddart and Evans, 2017).
The technology like the eye patch has helped the Sally in the improvement of her eye vision and
the special keyboard provided to her has resolved her typing problem to some extent. The
usage of the PDA has also helped her in the easy storage of the data and easy access to the
different information regarding the services of the healthcare (Raghupathi and Raghupathi,
2014).
7

LO2
2.1- EXPLAINATION OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE
USAGE OF THE TECHNOLOGIES
It is essential that before providing any technological types of equipment to any of the service
users or the patients the health and safety considerations regarding the different advanced
technological types of equipment must be taken care. In regards to the health and safety of the
individuals, various provisions were developed in the year 1974 under the health and safety
regulations regarding the usage of the different personal support equipment. While using the
technologies of the health care some considerations must also be taken care regarding the
repair and the maintenance of the equipment and gadgets (Peek, et al. 2014).
According to the current case study, Sally must understand the different safety considerations
regarding the equipment and gadgets that are being provided to her. Sally was being instructed
that in order to overcome her difficulties of driving a left foot accelerator and a sponge knob on
the steering of her vehicle was provided. The safety of the Sally would be put in danger if any
issue regarding the knob, accelerator or break occurs during her driving time which can result in
some major accidents and can lead to the poor implications (Weaver, et al. 2016).
Severe consequences can be faced by the Sally if the PDA that was provided to her to store and
memorize the different information rearguing the medicines and some other work faces some
technical issues in it as it will disturb her health as medicines will be missed by her due to
improper functioning of the PDA. The proper medicines and treatments must be prescribed to
her to deal with the different complication of the numbness, right side weakness, foot orthosis
and the vision impairment (Peek, et al. 2014).
8

If any technical or the mechanical issues occur in the special keyboard that was provided to her
to improve her typing and heal her poor vision and the improper mobility then she might lose
her job to the inefficiency to work properly due to the technical issues. So, the technical and the
mechanical breakdowns in the technological equipment’s must be prevented and maintained
to avoid severe health issues of Sally as a large expense is done on her health improvements
which would go waste (Weaver, et al. 2016).
9

2.2- DISCUSSION ON THE ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE USAGE OF THE
TECHNOLOGY
The different fundamental principles and the concepts that help in the decent conduct of the
individuals are referred as the ethics and morals. The rules and regulations that are related with
the technical assistance and are provided with the individuals that require support for the
independent living must include the ethical and the moral principles in the current scenario of
Sally's health treatment (Ventola, et al. 2014)
It is essential that the ethical issues regarding the treatment of the individuals must be
managed. The privacy and the confidentiality of the treatment, equipment, gadgets that are
utilised by the Sally in her treatment must remain confidential. In her case the personal digital
assistance is provided to her consisted of the different information like her all health-related
details, her medicines and treatment details and details of her other day to day activities
(Niemelä, et al. 2017). If any technological issue occurs in the device than anybody else can
access her personal information which is against the ethical considerations and will violate the
safety and the data protection act. Thus, the personal information of the Sally should only be
accessible to some of the selected individuals so as to ensure the personal information safe
(Blais, et al. 2015).
Proper ethics must be followed while providing any technological solution to the Sally and with
the help of her consent the systems should be installed as large numbers of people have been
found who do not like to take the assistance of the other individuals or devices or rely on them.
Sometimes some individuals get frustrated by the enforced technological treatments provided
to them without their consent which can result in frustration and are against the ethical values.
So, it is essential that ethical and morals must be considered before using any technology in the
treatment of the individuals to support their living (Green and Thorogood, 2018).
10

2.3- EXPLAINATION OF THE DIFFERENT IMPACTS DUE TO THE RECENT AND
THE EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
The health of the individuals that are availing the healthcare services has been affected by the
implementation of the technological equipment and the assistive technology. The employees
working in such organizations and their organizational and daily activities have been affected by
the emerging technological developments. These technological advancements are used by
professionals to improve the efficiency of the medical diagnostic processes. Various new
technological devoiced are being developed that have helped in the diagnostics of the different
types of cancers, vision impairments, hearing disabilities and some other advanced diseases
(Marek, et al. 2017).
There are several diseases present now which can be cured easily by the technological
advancements and equipment's that helps in the proper diagnosis which was earlier impossible
to cure due to the unavailability of the advanced technology (Brownsell and Bradley, 2013). In
this case study the different disabilities of the Sally like the vision impairment, numbness and
memory issues are being identified by the help of the advanced equipment's and they are being
cured by the PDA and the advanced keyboard. The working efficiency of the different
employees of this sector has been enhanced by the less time taken by them to identify the
problems of the individuals (Stevens, 2017)
Proper training to the staff of the healthcare organizations is being provided to deal with the
different assistive technologies and to learn more about the equipment's and to carry out the
organizational processes efficiently. The services offered to the patients are being enhanced like
the remote diagnostics and the operative processes. The interactions between the service
providers and the service seekers have been enhanced and strong relationships have been
developed between them (Marek, et al. 2017).
11

Sometimes due to the technological advancements the confidentiality of the patients, their
treatment procedures and they're some personal information might get lost which is a negative
impact (Stowe, 2010). The cost-benefit analysis due to the minimal amount spent on the
employees training has also been resulted by the improved technology. More experience is
gained by the individuals in practical assistance of the systems which have reduced their
training duration (Stevens, 2017).
12

LO3
3.1- IDENTIFICATION OF THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF INDIVIDUAL REQUIRING
SUPPORT TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY
According to the current case study, the Jane is a 59-year-old woman who has been facing
some severe disabilities like the chronic health problems, limited mobility and the learning
disabilities and possesses the Diabetes Type 2 along with the Epilepsy disease. It has been
analysed that the Jan needs some sort of assistance in the physical, health, intellectual and
emotional aspects. She wants to go back to her flat and enjoy independent living but due to her
improper health conditions, she is facing difficulties in living independently (Kenny, et al. 2016).
With the help of the case scenario, it has been realized that Jane has faced a suspected heart
attack and fell down on the floor and was not able to contact anybody for help or reach the
alarm or the emergency cord. Therefore it is essential that a caretaker must be provided to the
Jane who will look after her medical needs and provides personal care and assistance. As she
suffering from the limited mobility issues the caretaker can help her in her daily activities like
bathing, cooking, washing clothes and utensils along with providing the medicines on the timely
basis (Islam, et al. 2015).
Jane is also facing issues in learning and use to forget the things easily which is one of the
barriers in her independent living in which her caretaker can help her to remember and look
after the things. There was no one with her who could have helped her when she felt the heart
attack. She might also be given PDA that can help to assist her to remember the things like
taking medicine on time. Good therapy sessions and counselling sessions are required by her to
deal with the learning disability which can further prevent her from dementia and Epilepsy
disease (Stevens, 2017).
Along with this the nutrition and the diet of the Jane should be givens consideration so as to
heal the Diabetes Type 2 and she must take supplements containing the vitamins and proteins.
13

3.2- RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN MAKING
INDEPENDENT ARRANGEMENTS
Technology has been advanced in the recent times and different assistive devices are being
available now that can help in dealing the like the improper mobility and learning disabilities.
The technological advancements have led to the easy day to day living of the patients (Pang, et
al. 2015). In order to deal with the learning disabilities of the patients, a technical product
named day monitor clock has been developed. The time and the date are displayed in it are
very big so that Jane or other people can utilise it for the easy understanding (Memory and
Mental Stimulation, 2017).
Figure 1: Day Monitor Clock
[Source: https://www.geriguard.com/product-p/dcx-hdmi.htm]
The blood glucose meter is one of the powerful devices to measure the blood sugar level few
times in a day. This can help in the Jane in dealing with the Diabetes type 2 (Medical Expo,
2016).
14

Figure 2: Blood glucose meter
[Source:http://www.medicalexpo.com/prod/abbott-diabetes-care/product-90153-
573177.html]
One of the other technical assistant devices that can be used by the Jane id the Memory Phone
in which images of her family members can easily be stored along with the contact numbers in
big sizes so that she can easily recognize and call them in case of emergencies. This is useful for
her as she might forget the phone numbers of the family members (Modern Seniors Products,
2015).
Figure 3: Memory Phones
[Source:https://www.modernseniorproducts.com/big-button-photo-memory-phone-for-
elderly-seniors-p/hc-csc500.htm]
15

The use of the low tech devices like power wheelchair can be done by the Jane to deal with the
limited mobility issues and they are cost-effective and simple and can help the disabled people
to complete their tasks.
Figure 4: Power wheelchair
[Source: https://www.modernseniorproducts.com/big-button-photo-memory-phone-for-
elderly-seniors-p/hc-csc500.htm]
Automatic medication dispenser can also be utilised by the Jane to determine whether the
medicine has been taken or not.
Figure – Automatic Medication Dispenser
[Source:https://www.medicaldepartmentstore.com/Med-E-Lert-Automatic-Pill-Dispenser-
with-Alarm-p/pill_alarm.htm]
16

3.3- EVALUATION OF THE USEFULNESS OF THE TECHNOLOGY BY SERVICES
USERS
While considering the usefulness of the technological devices the memory phone and the blood
glucose meter are quite helpful for contacting the family members in case of emergencies and
to maintain the diabetes of the patients like Jane. The learning disabilities of the Jane can be
reduced with the help of the memory phone and the day monitor clock (Memory and Mental
Stimulation, 2017). The proper medicines can be taken on time by the patients with the help of
the automatic medicine dispenser as patients will not forget to take them with the help of this
device.
The memory phone can also help the Jane to remember her family members and relatives with
the help of the display of their images over the memory phone (Modern Seniors Products,
2015). The power wheelchair can be utilised by the Jane to deal with the mobility issues and
this can help to complete her work by moving with the help of the power chair. The memory
clock can help to avoid the confusion between the day, time, months and the weeks. The blood
glucose meter is a very powerful tool with the help of which the sugar level is maintained inside
the body and can heal the diabetes type 2 (Medical Expo, 2016). Thus, all the above-mentioned
instruments are quite useful to deal with the different disabilities.
17

CONCLUSION
The technological advancements made in the field of the health care have helped many
individuals to lead an independent living. There are different barriers faced by the people
during the access to the technology which can be resolved by proper training. Along with the
barrier, there is a number of benefits that are provided by the technology and have cured many
disabilities of the people. It is essential that the ethical values must be considered while
providing any treatment to the individuals. The specific needs of an individual to love
independently are analysed in this report along with some recommendations.
18

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