International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2014. What is the most important technological development which has helped the disabled community?


International Day of Persons with Disabilities

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Tomorrow sees the United Nations’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities celebrated this year on 3rd December 2014.

This year’s theme is “Sustainable Development: The Promise of Technology”

The UN website shares “Throughout human history, technology has always impacted the way people live. The Industrial Revolution ushered in a new age of technology that raised the standards of living of people around the world and their access to goods and services. Today, technology is built in to every facet of daily living. The emergence of information and communications technologies have dramatically increased connectivity between people and their access to information, and further raised living standards.

ICTs have indeed changed the way people live, work and play. However, not all people benefit from the advances of technology and the higher standards of living. This is mainly because not all people have access to new technologies and not all people can afford them.


Today, there are over 1 billion people living in the world with some form of disability. Around the world, persons with disabilities not only face physical barriers but also social, economic and attitudinal barriers. Furthermore, disability is associated with twenty per cent of global poverty, of which the majority live in developing countries. In spite of being the world’s largest minority group, persons with disabilities and the issue of disability has remained largely invisible in the mainstream development frameworks and its processes.”

As regular readers know this blog is very interested in healthcare and technology. You can see a recent example here.

So we would like to know what is the most important development in healthcare technology in the last few years? It would be great if you could share your answers in the comments section below?

Many thanks in advance!

Getting better healthcare from technology. How a neonatal department is using video calling software for mothers who are too unwell to visit


Healthcare and technology

Healthcare and technology

As regular readers of this blog know I’m more than a bit of a fan of the application of technology to healthcare. In particular its usage in the social and communication areas of medicine.

So I was deleighted to read the following story. Leicester Hospitals’ neonatal unit have bought themselves a load of iPads so that see their baby using video calling software when they are too unwell to visit the unit or have been transferred to another hospital.

Simple but brilliant.

Just a useful bit of kit can really improve the lives of both mothers and , of course, the children.

Chloe Denton found out while pregnant that her baby was suffering from intrauterine growth restriction. This is a condition whereby the baby grows poorly while in the mother’s womb. Chloe was closely monitored and it was decided to induce the pregnancy at 36 weeks.

Two weeks before this everything changed. Chloe started fitting, so it was decided to carry out an emergency C-section the next day.


Denton explains: “It was an extremely traumatic time and after a quick glimpse of my little boy, Oliver, he was whisked away to the neonatal unit. I felt lost and desperate to see him.”

Nurses on the ward where Denton was recovering gave her an iPad so she could see Oliver while she was unable to walk to the neonatal unit herself.

“I got to see Oliver for the first time and I was elated. Just seeing him happy and settled gave me immense comfort. I can’t thank the staff in the neonatal unit enough for letting me experience such an amazing thing with my son. The first few hours are so important for bonding and that was all I wanted with Oliver.” she said.

Marie Hubbard, neonatal research nurse for Leicester’s Hospitals said: “It is fantastic that staff are already starting to see the benefits of these iPads. We are very grateful to Leicester Hospitals Charity and the Central Newborn Network project for enabling us to buy them and for IM&T for making it happen.”