Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities

Emerging trends in technology are providing opportunities for a broader range of accessible and assistive technologies (AATs) to positively impact persons with disabilities in terms of independent living and employment within and across built environments. However, such technologies typically requir...

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Main Authors: Siny Joseph, Vinod Namboodiri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Buildings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/6/931
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author Siny Joseph
Vinod Namboodiri
author_facet Siny Joseph
Vinod Namboodiri
author_sort Siny Joseph
collection DOAJ
description Emerging trends in technology are providing opportunities for a broader range of accessible and assistive technologies (AATs) to positively impact persons with disabilities in terms of independent living and employment within and across built environments. However, such technologies typically require significant investments by entities that offer such options. It is not clear how such firms compete in a market with other firms that may not provide such options. Understanding such competition can help to promote greater investments in accessibility infrastructure within built environments by entities and provide insights into how federal efforts can further boost such efforts. To this end, this paper presents a game-theoretic framework of market competition between two firms where one invests in accessibility (bearing additional upfront costs) and compares it with another one that does not. Numerical evaluations demonstrate the range of parametric values where accessibility investments pay off. Furthermore, case studies are presented to demonstrate the practical feasibility of these parameter values. The results indicate that any firm considering making accessibility investments can expect to make profits and also gain an advantage over its competitors if the expected increase in the average user experience is significant (quantified as 20% or more for the parameters considered in this work) across all potential users.
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spelling doaj-art-b34b85fd591343f88fddcd30ccbcba402025-08-20T03:43:02ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-03-0115693110.3390/buildings15060931Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with DisabilitiesSiny Joseph0Vinod Namboodiri1Department of Integrated Studies, Kansas State University, 2310 Centennial Road, Salina, KS 67401, USADepartment of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Lehigh University, 124 E Morton St., Bethlehem, PA 18015, USAEmerging trends in technology are providing opportunities for a broader range of accessible and assistive technologies (AATs) to positively impact persons with disabilities in terms of independent living and employment within and across built environments. However, such technologies typically require significant investments by entities that offer such options. It is not clear how such firms compete in a market with other firms that may not provide such options. Understanding such competition can help to promote greater investments in accessibility infrastructure within built environments by entities and provide insights into how federal efforts can further boost such efforts. To this end, this paper presents a game-theoretic framework of market competition between two firms where one invests in accessibility (bearing additional upfront costs) and compares it with another one that does not. Numerical evaluations demonstrate the range of parametric values where accessibility investments pay off. Furthermore, case studies are presented to demonstrate the practical feasibility of these parameter values. The results indicate that any firm considering making accessibility investments can expect to make profits and also gain an advantage over its competitors if the expected increase in the average user experience is significant (quantified as 20% or more for the parameters considered in this work) across all potential users.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/6/931accessibilityaccessible and assistive technologiesbuilt environmentincentivespersons with disabilities
spellingShingle Siny Joseph
Vinod Namboodiri
Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
Buildings
accessibility
accessible and assistive technologies
built environment
incentives
persons with disabilities
title Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
title_full Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
title_fullStr Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
title_full_unstemmed Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
title_short Investment Assessments in the Adoption of Accessible and Assistive Technologies Within Built Environments for Persons with Disabilities
title_sort investment assessments in the adoption of accessible and assistive technologies within built environments for persons with disabilities
topic accessibility
accessible and assistive technologies
built environment
incentives
persons with disabilities
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/6/931
work_keys_str_mv AT sinyjoseph investmentassessmentsintheadoptionofaccessibleandassistivetechnologieswithinbuiltenvironmentsforpersonswithdisabilities
AT vinodnamboodiri investmentassessmentsintheadoptionofaccessibleandassistivetechnologieswithinbuiltenvironmentsforpersonswithdisabilities