Despite the global imperative on improving access to assistive technology (AT) products, little data has been systematically collected, analyzed or published to understand the use, need, met need, and barriers to accessing AT in various populations.
The development of the WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology provides an opportunity for the global AT sector to improve access to AT in a coordinated and collaborative way and make a significant impact for people to get the assistive products they need. To this end, WHO launched an initiative in early 2020 in measuring access to AT through representative population surveys using the WHO rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) questionnaire.
This special thematic session of the ICCHP-AAATE 2022 Conference calls for presentations from researchers and organizations that collected representative population survey data on access to AT using the WHO-rATA questionnaire. We are looking for contributions that include at least the following key findings:

• Current use of assistive products in the population;
• Need, and met or unmet need of assistive products in the population;
• (Prevalence of) use of different assistive products;
• Sources and funding to obtain assistive products in the country;
• Barriers to assistive products access;
• Users’ satisfaction with their assistive products and related services.

We aim to publish accepted contributions in a dedicated section of the Open Access Compendium “Assistive Technology, Accessibility and (e)Inclusion”, which is scheduled for July 2022. The publication of each contribution in the Compendium is included in the conference’s fee. 

Chairs

• 
  Wei Zhang, World Health Organization
• 
  Lorenzo Desideri, WeCareMore Research & Innovation Centre of AIAS Bologna
• 
  Mauro Grigioni, Italian Institute of Health