Kevin Tyler, President and Co-Founder of Give Speech, wrote today’s blog about the cost of augmentative and alternative communication devices. This mission of Give Speech is simple. The New York nonprofit wants to make augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology better, cheaper, and more accessible.
Kevin writes:
At Give Speech, we have been vocal about what we call the “10X” reduction, which is the result of $7,000 dedicated speech generating devices having new tablet-based cousins for as low as $700 (including the purchase of 3rd party software). Further, as the tablet market becomes increasingly competitive, the cost of tablets will continue to fall, causing all-in costs to fall further–even if software prices (i.e., AAC apps) hold constant. Many have pointed out the advantages of dedicated speech generating devices over today’s apps, such as not requiring users to navigate to and open apps as well as being more accommodative of profoundly disabled users. We agree such differences represent important considerations–at least for now.
Looking into the future, a question we ask ourselves is ‘how much longer will these differences exist?’. We think that, at most, it will take another five years to close the functional gaps between dedicated devices and generalized tablets running AAC apps, and potentially much sooner. It’s hard to make a scientific estimate for when the lines will be completely blurred, but our biggest reasons are 1) we don’t see any big technological hurdles (e.g., ubiquity of commercialized tablets) and 2) we expect pressures from existing funding sources (e.g., the government) and demand from new funding sources (e.g., families paying 100% out-of-pocket) to accelerate this progression. (As an aside, this trend is also not lost on tablet makers either. For example, Apple recently announced that iOS 6 will allow the disabling of the home button–a problem some critics previously hailed as the Achilles heel of iPad apps–and, as most technologists would expect, has a trivial software fix.)
Assuming it’s true that average devices cost will fall by $6,300 ($7,000 – $700) and probably more in the future, what does that savings mean for people with disabilities? At Give Speech, we see two key areas that industry professionals should pay attention to:
1. AAC Devices Become Significantly More Affordable
To be certain, a 10X reduction in cost is a big deal in any market, particularly when the starting price point is out of reach of most consumers. ($7,000 is a purchase most American households cannot make on their own; $700 is another story.) Will increased financial accessibility change AAC usage in different areas (homes, schools, hospitals)? If the number of users increase, so will the demand for related services. The time to start planning for increased capacity is now.
2. Opportunity to Re-Appropriate Cost Savings
If suddenly there is $6,300 in savings per AAC device user, what will happen to that money and who will benefit? Will that savings be largely for the benefit of Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial insurance companies, which currently fund a bulk of device purchases? Although it’s a complex issue, we believe there are potential opportunities to begin building the case for increased services for AAC users–in anticipation of this money to be freed up–so that when the seismic shift happens, these savings might be re-appropriated for the benefit of persons with disabilities.
In conclusion, we think the AAC industry needs a longer term plan for how to constructively deal with this trend, otherwise the budget pie will just shrink without commensurate “10X improvements” in technology and services for the end users.
Kevin Tyler
President & Co-founder of Give Speech Foundation, Inc.
Website: www.givespeech.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/givespeech
Twitter: @GiveSpeech