About
What are assistive products and who are they for?
Assistive products are any external products (devices, equipment, software) which maintain or improve a person’s ability to do carry out activities. Hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids, spectacles, prostheses, pill organizers and memory aids are all examples of assistive products.
Assistive products enable people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives. They help people to be active participants and contributors in family, community and all other aspects of life.
Most of us will need assistive products during our lives, but they are particularly helpful to children and adults living with disability, people with chronic conditions and older people.
To learn more, take the Introduction to assistive products module.
What is TAP?
1 billion people today and 2 billion by 2050 need assistive products. However, only 1 in 10 people around the world currently have access to them.
TAP (Training in Assistive Products) is one part of an overall package of WHO resources and tools, designed to improve access to assistive products
TAP is a free online interactive learning resource. It teaches how to provide simple assistive products through four steps:
- Select
- Fit
- Use
- Follow up
...
Developed by WHO’s Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) in collaboration with stakeholders from around the world, TAP recognizes the many different settings in which people live and work. It is relevant to a wide range of environments including less or well-resourced, urban or rural.
Who is TAP for?
TAP is for everyone interested in using, providing or training others in simple assistive products.
TAP can be used in different ways. For example:
- Health workers, especially those in primary or community-level settings, can learn to provide simple assistive products.
- Service managers, supervisors and trainers can use TAP to provide training on assistive products.
- People who use assistive products and their families can find information about different assistive products and how to use them.
- Policy makers and advocacy groups can find information to increase their understanding of assistive products provision and raise awareness of assistive products through their networks.
TAP and accessibility
TAP uses universal principles of accessibility such as:
- Large and clear text
- Plain English
- Tagging of web page elements
- Text alternatives to visual and audio content
- Colours that meet accessibility standards
- Compatibility with keyboard only access.
The TAP website has been tested by people with different accessibility needs. If you have any accessibility issues please let us know so that we can address your needs and improve the website for everyone.
TAP languages
TAP is currently available in English, Arabic and Russian. More languages will be added in the future.
TAP Development process
TAP has been developed in collaboration with stakeholders from diverse settings and backgrounds.
This includes people who use assistive products, service providers and managers, trainers and researchers.
Each module is developed through a process of content development, external review and piloting. TAP benefits enormously from the participation and feedback from real people, in real-life scenarios. Thank you!
Contributors
Core development team: Emma Tebbutt, Kylie Shae, Giulia Oggero, Ainsley Hadden, Irene Calvo Accessibility advisors: David Banes, E.A. Draffan and Adam Ungstad Illustrator: Codi Ash Film maker: Julie Desnoulez Website development: Physiopedia Development partner: Motivation Australia
Financial support: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID)
Content developers are acknowledged at the end of each module.
If you want to know more about WHO’s work on assistive technology, visit the WHO assistive technology website, join the GATE community, and follow us on Twitter!