Introduction of cognitive support technologies (CST) for job seekers

Abstract

Research shows that adults with cognitive impairment can benefit from cognitive support technologies (CST), and combined with good coping strategies, these technologies can help facilitate inclusion in the labour market. Experience from our rehabilitation work in Norway shows that introducing CST to persons with Asperger’s syndrome and/or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be challenging. This study describes and discusses factors that can promote or inhibit the introduction of CST in vocational rehabilitation services. These descriptions are based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in two vocational rehabilitation programmes in Norway. We describe how adequate time, mandatory integration of technology in activities, recognition of and faith in the individual's ability to eventually find a job as part of a professional strategy, and the use of the job seekers’ own technologies, are intertwined and interdependent factors that promote the introduction of CST. The inhibiting factors we describe may be related to the diagnosis of the typical challenges faced by adults suffering from ADHD and/or Asperger’s, such as organizational challenges, procrastination or general difficulty in doing things in a new way.