An Analysis of Commercial and Customized Assistive Technology Device Support Project and Employment Retention Effect Analysis of Korea Disabled Employment Agency

In this study, the status of support and returns through the assistive technology device support project of the Korea Disabled Employment Agency was investigated, and the effect of employment retention period according to the type of assistive technology device was analyzed. In order to analyze the status of assistive technology device support and return status, the number and amount of assistive technology devices supported by the Korea Disabled Employment Agency from 2016 to 2019, and assistive technology devices returned by the disabled were analyzed by type. The difference in employment period by type was analyzed. In the case of the support status of assistive technology devices, the number of applications for commercial assistive technology devices is increasing, but customized assistive technology devices have been decreasing since 2017, and the amount of payments has increased sharply in 2019. Regarding the return status, from 2016 to 2019, the ratio of assistive technology devices under 1 million won was the largest at 56.0%, and the total amount of returned devices is increasing from 2018 to 2019. In the case of the employment maintenance period, 25.44 months were for disabled workers who received customized auxiliary engineering devices, longer than 24.91 months for disabled workers who received commercial assistive technology devices, which showed a statistically significant difference. This study investigated the support and return devices of the assistive technology device support project of the Korea Disabled Employment Agency, compared and analyzed the employment retention period of disabled workers according to commercial and customized devices. This study is the first study in Korea to analyze the effect of maintaining employment according to the type of assistive technology devices, and it is meaningful to support customized assistive technology devices for disabled workers, and it is hoped that the research results will provide a foundation for building a hub for integrated management of assistive technology.