For the estimated 8,000 people living with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Switzerland, assistive technologies (AT) are not optional extras – they are essential. From the wheelchair received at rehabilitation discharge to voice-controlled smart-home systems adopted years later, these devices enable independence, self-management, and social participation throughout an entire lifetime.

Yet despite Switzerland's advanced rehabilitation infrastructure, surprisingly little is known about how people with SCI actually use AT once they return home. Existing studies offer a useful but incomplete picture: they tend to be snapshots in time, focused primarily on mobility devices, and limited in what they can tell us about lived experience. They do not follow people across different life stages, nor do they explain how Switzerland's complex insurance and financing structures shape what devices people can access, and what happens when needs change.

Lived experience with assistive technologies

A new project funded by the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation and led by Professor Sara Rubinelli sets out to close these knowledge gaps by developing the first integrated, life-course framework of assistive technology use after spinal cord injury in Switzerland. The research team will map how AT needs and usage patterns change across the stages of life after injury and document lived experiences, unmet needs, and the practical realities of acquiring, using, maintaining and funding devices. Alongside this qualitative work, the project will carry out a cost–consequence analysis, combining user insights with reimbursement data, public tariffs, and supplier information to map where the current system works well and where inefficiencies and equity gaps persist.

Optimal support across every life stage

The findings will be translated into concrete deliverables: a visual life-course map of AT use in Switzerland, a policy brief for decision-makers, an investment roadmap for funders and insurers, clinical guidance for rehabilitation professionals, and plain-language summaries of the project’s findings and practical implications for people with SCI and their families. The aim of the project is straightforward but ambitious: to ensure that people living with spinal cord injury in Switzerland have access to the right technologies, at the right time, throughout every stage of their lives.

• Project title: Mapping and Prioritizing Assistive Technologies for Daily Living for People with Spinal Cord Injury in Switzerland: Needs, Lifecycle Use, and Investment Guidance
• Project lead: Professor Sara Rubinelli, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne
• Project participants: Professor Robert Riener, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich; PD Dr. med. Björn Zörner, Swiss Paraplegic Centre; Professor Carla Sabariego, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, University of Lucerne
• Project duration: 36 months
• Approved funding amount: CHF 198’000 (rounded)