Brief+Overview+and+History

What is assistive technology (AT)? > > -- (Federal Register, August 19, 1991, p. 41272) FACTS (Dell, 2008):
 * AT is any device that allows an individual to perform a task that might otherwise be difficult to accomplish due to a specific disability.
 * **Assistive technology means any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities.**
 * Alexander Graham Bell built the telephone to help his deaf students.
 * Bell's assistants invented the transistor while trying to improve hearing aids.
 * Kurzweil invented the flat-bed scanner which became the reading machine used today.