AAC Abandonment

The widespread phenomenon of users discontinuing their use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, particularly common among people with aphasia. Abandonment is driven by multiple factors including poor personalization and difficulty customizing devices to evolving communication needs, social stigma associated with using visible assistive technology, prohibitive costs of dedicated AAC hardware and software, complexity that overwhelms users with limited digital literacy, and devices that fail to leverage users' residual verbal and non-verbal communication abilities. AAC abandonment represents a critical challenge for assistive technology design, highlighting the gap between top-down prescribed interventions and the actual lived needs of users.