The mATHENA inventory for free mobile assistive technology applications

Abstract

The entry of smartphones and tablets in the market yields new opportunities in the domain of Assistive Technology (AT) for persons with disabilities. The search process for mobile AT applications that fulfill specific user needs is not an easy task for the end-users, their facilitators as well as the professionals in the area of rehabilitation. Even, when they finally find what they are looking for, a number of questions are raised relative to the reliability, stability, compatibility and functionality of the AT applications. These questions can be answered safely only by a team of AT experts. In this work we present the methodological approach for the design and development of the mATHENA web-based inventory, which aims to make the search and selection of free mobile AT applications simple and sound. This methodology is based on the consistent and well-documented presentation of the information for each mobile AT application, after it is tested in an AT lab. mATHENA offers social interaction services for its diverse target groups. Moreover, we present the advantages of mATHENA compared with the functionalities of six other inventories for AT applications. Currently, mATHENA includes 420 free mobile AT applications, carefully selected among a total of 1,100.