Page 248 - Handbook of Electronic Assistive Technology

Chapter 8 • Assisted Living 237

first addressed in descriptions (Stefanov et al., 2004; Cook and Das, 2005; Martin et al.,
2008; Gentry, 2009). For a person with a physical disability, assistance in performing
basic, everyday tasks and generally enhancing their control of the local environment
clearly has the potential to offer considerable benefit. In some cases this automation
has been applied in a relatively fixed, predetermined manner, which it could be argued
does not necessarily make full use of the capabilities of a smart system. There are a num-
ber of potential benefits associated with using a smart home system for automation and
control.

Flexibility in Control Layout
The ability to control a device or combination of devices via a number of different possible
input options allows the living space to be designed to meet an individual’s specific needs
and preferences. There appears to be an implicit assumption in much of the literature
that all physically disabled individuals desire devices either to function in a fully auto-
mated manner or via some form of remote control. There are clearly appreciable benefits
in remote control, especially if functions for home entertainment systems can be inte-
grated into the device as well as in conventional environmental control equipment. This
level of automation can have significant benefits, which have been ably reported (Martin
and Beamish, 2008), such as:

1� Improves functional independence.
2� Reduces the energy required for activities of daily living.
3� Awakens/reawakens latent choice/decision-making capacity.
4� Enables personal growth.

The general policy push toward supported living in recent years has been focused
around empowering people. For some physically disabled individuals, however, maximis-
ing use of their own abilities is likely to be an important aspect of empowerment, possibly
as much as extending the locus of their control within their environment. So the ability to
place appropriate manual controls for any aspect of an accommodation’s various func-
tions in any desired location, with minimal reconfiguration of a property, would be benefi-
cial in this context. Simple examples might include the transferring of control of a cooker
extractor hood or control of an inaccessible window to a wall switch. This can be viewed
from the perspective of both an individual with a degenerative condition who is attempt-
ing to maintain their functional abilities and an individual who is rehabilitating. The key
issue is that automation has significant benefits and these can be magnified if the technol-
ogy is genuinely personalised to the individual.

Adaptability of Design

The incorporation of smart home infrastructure has been recognised as supporting the
‘lifetime homes’ agenda (Nichol and Perry, 2008; RIBA, 2011), and has the economic
advantage of significantly reducing the costs of reconfiguring the property.