Implementing assistive technology on wearable computers

What might seem perfectly intuitive to a young rehabilitation engineer designing assistive devices might not be intuitive at all to a disabled or elderly person experiencing a serious loss of function for the first time. When designers understand the complex nature of disabilities, they are more likely to meet the disabled users´ needs. Using the results of his work in designing assistive technology, the author describes impaired people´s needs and offers design strategies to accommodate them. He also presents his research to develop a wearable computer-based orientation and wayfinding aid for the severely visually impaired.