Access to assistive technology

UN General Assembly adopts landmark resolution on access to assistive technology

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted its first ever resolution on access to assistive technology, a move campaigners are calling a turning point for the 2.5 billion people worldwide who rely on devices such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, prosthetics and glasses to live independently.

 

Formal recognition of an essential right

The resolution, “Access to Assistive Technology“, was adopted by consensus on 2 September after passing its silence procedure on 25 August with no objections from any of the UN’s 193 Member States. It was led by Pakistan and co-sponsored by more than 40 countries, presented under the social development agenda of the 80th General Assembly session.

For the first time, UN Member States have formally agreed that assistive technology is not a luxury but a fundamental right and a core part of sustainable development. The resolution reinforces existing commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, and the World Health Assembly’s 2018 resolution on improving access to assistive technology – but goes further by explicitly naming assistive technology as essential to universal health coverage.

 

A resolution shaped by lived experience

The text was drafted and negotiated by Counsellor Saima Saleem, Pakistan’s first visually impaired career diplomat, who has used assistive technology throughout her education and diplomatic career at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN. Her involvement gave the negotiations a grounding in what reliable access can actually make possible, rather than treating it as an abstract policy question.

That distinction matters because the scale of unmet need is stark. The World Health Organisation and UNICEF’s 2022 Global Report on Assistive Technology found that more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products; by 2050, that figure is expected to reach 3.5 billion as populations age. Yet access is highly unequal: fewer than 10% of people who need assistive technology in low-income countries can get it, compared with around 90% in high-income countries.

 

Pascal Bijleveld, CEO of ATscale, said:

“This resolution is a powerful statement of international solidarity. It affirms that assistive technology is not a luxury; it is a right and an economic necessity. From digital tools to mobility aids, assistive technology is the key that opens the door to education, employment, and independent living.”

Gopal Mitra is UNICEF’s Global Lead on Children with Disabilities:

“Millions of children around the world still lack access to affordable and appropriate assistive products such as eyeglasses, hearing aids and wheelchairs. The adoption of this resolution is an important step toward closing these gaps… It provides us with a stronger mandate and a vital advocacy tool to hold decision-makers accountable.”

What the resolution asks of governments

Rather than setting binding targets, the resolution sets out a shared framework. It calls on governments to integrate assistive technology into national health, education, employment and social protection systems; to invest in local manufacturing and supply chains so countries rely less on imports; and to train the specialist staff needed to prescribe, fit and maintain equipment properly. It also insists that disabled people, older people and their organisations be involved at every stage of policy-making, that assistive technology be built into humanitarian and disaster-response planning, and that countries collect better data to track who is being left behind.

Advocacy groups see its real value as leverage: a formal, unanimous international mandate they can point to when pressing national governments to fund and prioritise assistive technology provision.

 

What it could mean closer to home

In the UK, access to assistive technology is far from a solved problem. NHS wheelchair services operate against a target of providing a wheelchair within 18 weeks of referral, a target that is frequently missed, leaving people waiting far longer for equipment they need to leave the house, work or simply move around their own home. Long waits and patchy provision for hearing aids, prosthetics and home adaptations are similarly familiar territory for many of our readers, whether as users, carers or professionals working in the sector.

A UN resolution doesn’t change any of that overnight, and it carries no legal force. But it does give disabled people’s organisations, carers’ groups and professional bodies in the UK a new, high-level reference point to cite when arguing for better-funded, faster and more joined-up services – as well as a reminder that the case for investment in assistive technology is now one of formal international consensus, not just domestic advocacy.

For a full breakdown of what the resolution covers, the WHO and UNICEF’s Global Report on Assistive Technology remains the fullest picture of global need and is worth revisiting alongside this development (external link will open in a new browser tab or window).

 

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