Assistive technology organizations
Globally, many organizations contribute to expanding access to quality assistive technology.
This page highlights a selection of key organizations that:
- Fund or implement assistive technology programmes
- Serve as member organizations or professional associations, or
- Provide training resources for assistive technology globally
This is not an exhaustive list of all organizations involved in assistive technology.
Name of Organization | Role (As per organization's own description) | Website Link |
---|---|---|
The Fred Hollows Foundation |
The Fred Hollows Foundation is an international development organisation with a very clear purpose: to make sure everyone, whether they’re rich or poor, has access to high quality, affordable eye health care. |
https://www.hollows.org/ |
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) |
The International Committee of the Red Cross is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The ICRC also endeavours to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. |
https://www.icrc.org/en/what-we-do/physical-rehabilitation |
The International Labour Organization (ILO) |
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights, pursuing its founding mission that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace. |
https://www.ilo.org/ |
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) |
The UN Refugee Agency works to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution or war at home. |
https://www.unhcr.org/ |
UN Women |
UN Women is the UN organization delivering programmes, policies and standards that uphold women’s human rights and ensure that every woman and girl lives up to her full potential. |
https://www.unwomen.org/ |
United Nations Development programme (UNDP) |
UNDP is the lead United Nations agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. UNDP helps countries develop policies, leadership skills, partnerships and institutional capabilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. |
https://www.undp.org/ |
United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) |
United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) is a UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. UNICEF works to ensure that high-quality and affordable assistive technologies are available for children and supports global efforts in training, procurement, and guidance on their use. |
https://www.unicef.org/supply/assistive-technologies |
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) |
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has a big ambition: to help decision makers across the globe better understand and act on risk. |
https://www.undrr.org/ |
World Bank |
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development. |
https://www.worldbank.org/ |
World Federation of the Deaf (WDF) |
The WFD is an international non-governmental organisation representing and advocating for the human rights of approximately 70 million deaf people worldwide. The organisation promotes inclusive communication, access to sign languages, and equitable access to assistive technologies such as hearing devices, captioning, and communication platforms. WFD works through advocacy, research, and policy engagement to support full participation of deaf people in society. |
https://wfdeaf.org/ |
Pagination
Name of Organization | Role (As per organization's own description) | Website Link |
---|---|---|
World physiotherapy |
World Physiotherapy is committed to furthering the physiotherapy profession and improving global health. An important part of World Physiotherapy's purpose is to further the global physiotherapy profession by supporting member organisations with information, expertise, and services. |
https://world.physio/ |
Pagination
Name of Organization | Role (As per organization's own description) | Website Link |
---|---|---|
Physiopedia |
Physiopedia is a charity registered in the United Kingdom that provides an evidence-based and continually updating knowledge resource that is free for anyone to access. The Physiopedia website is the world's largest rehabilitation knowledge resource and is used by people throughout the world. |
https://www.physio-pedia.com/ |
Training in Assistive Products (TAP) |
WHO's online Training in assistive products (TAP) is designed to prepare primary health and other personnel to fulfill an assistive technology role. TAP is a flexible, modular training resource that can be tailored to support local health systems and training for assistive technology provision.TAP includes a range of assistive products to support cognition, communication, vision, hearing, self-care, and mobility from WHO’s Priority assistive products list. |
https://www.gate-tap.org/ |