The assistive technology continuity framework: sustaining access through disruption and change

BACKGROUND: Assistive technology research has extensively examined person-technology fit, service delivery, adoption, satisfaction, abandonment, and participation. However, less attention has been paid to the continuity of access amid technological breakdown, organisational transition, infrastructure failure, platform change, and changing individual circumstances. OBJECTIVE: This conceptual paper develops the Assistive Technology Continuity Framework (ATCF) to explain how access to valued activities can be sustained or restored despite interruption and change. METHODS: Drawing on established perspectives on assistive technology use and service delivery, the paper develops a conceptual framework that integrates temporal, relational, and infrastructural dimensions of assistive technology continuity. RESULTS: Assistive technology continuity is defined as the capacity of a bounded person-technology-service-infrastructure configuration to sustain or restore acceptable access to valued activities despite interruption and change. The ATCF distinguishes seven interrelated components: risk architecture, disruption and temporal fit change, continuity capacities and responses, proximal continuity states, activity continuity, distal consequences, and continuity labour. It identifies dependency concentration as an architectural condition that amplifies disruption when multiple essential activities or support pathways depend on a limited number of products, providers, people, or infrastructures. Six propositions specify relationships involving reliability, realised repair capability, portability, effective redundancy, personalisation, and continuity labour. CONCLUSIONS: The ATCF extends person-technology fit and abandonment perspectives by incorporating disruption propagation, substitution, migration, and cross-level dependencies. It provides a conceptual basis for evaluating assistive technology beyond initial adoption and use, highlighting the importance of lifecycle support, transferable configuration, acceptable alternatives, and the distribution of continuity labour in assessment, design, procurement, and policy.