Adaptation technologies to support daily living for all

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to bring light about how adaptation technologies can ease daily living for people with special needs. Assistive technologies, adaptive systems and context-aware applications are three wellestablished research areas whose findings can be interestingly merged. In particular, adaptation methods and techniques support the adaptation of existing software to better suit each user's need. In the last years, the need of building applications that allow the inclusion of people with special needs in different fields has been emphasized. Along this chapter, we present different research works that contribute to the integration of this collective, by providing means to support either their personal development or the accomplishment of their daily tasks. The technological solutions chosen for this chapter are mainly related to three areas of application: activities of daily living, health and education. This chapter also summarizes the most widely used adaptation features and processes in this context.