April 16th 2025
April is #CelebratingSocialCare month. We’re celebrating by sharing examples of how technology is used to support good care.
Enhancing life through technology
Jennifer Pearl’s journey into the world of digital care and assistive technology began not in a lab or boardroom, but in a hospital. At 47, she was diagnosed with a spinal tumour that changed the course of her life. Now 60 and a wheelchair user, she has spent the past 13 years not only adapting to a new way of living but actively helping to shape systems and solutions for people like her.
“It wasn’t just about learning to live differently,” Jennifer says, “it was about deciding I was still going to live a full life as a wheelchair user.”
Her first real step toward reclaiming independence came through the Back Up Trust, a charity founded by James Bond’s stuntman who also experienced a spinal injury. Jennifer was reluctant at first. “I remember thinking ‘no way am I going on some course with strangers’,” she laughs. “But it changed everything.”
The Skills for Independence course taught her practical strategies to navigate life in a wheelchair as well as going on group adventures. For example, they journeyed to Exmoor, where she zip-wired in her chair, and her daughter was mentored by a peer who had also grown up with a family member with a spinal injury. Jennifer’s daughter is now a mentor herself!
“I’ve flown a plane. I’ve tried racing. I’ve done more than I might’ve done if I was still walking,” Jennifer says. “If you can manage to fly an aeroplane and drive a race car around Silverstone with hand controls, anything becomes possible.”
A Champion for Lived Experience
Jennifer’s experiences turned her into a passionate advocate for ensuring disabled voices are heard when designing care systems and technologies. Jennifer also became a trustee for Inclusion Barnet, a Deaf and Disabled Peoples Organisation. “Nothing with us without us”
“It’s not enough for someone to design a gadget and say it’s helpful. We need to be in the room, shaping what helpful actually looks like,” she insists. “There’s nothing more frustrating than tech made about you but never with you.”
She now regularly participates in focus groups and has worked with organisations such as Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) where the organisation Skills for Care delivered workshops for social workers, occupational therapists, and leaders in care. And she has been a key part of the AI in Social Care project led by the Institute for Ethics in AI, Casson Consulting and us here at Digital Care Hub.
Why Conferences Like ITEC Matter
For Jennifer, conferences like ITEC (International Technology Enabled Care), that focus on innovation in tech-enabled care, are more than industry events. They’re valuable opportunities to stay connected, informed and inspired.
“I go to stay informed, yes. But I also go to make sure lived experience is represented,” she says.
This year, Jennifer attended ITEC with her PA, Diane. It was an early start – “up at 5:30, which is no small feat when you’re in a chair”, but well worth it. She sat in on two key talks, including one led by Bluebird Care, which explored tech-enabled care through a hybrid model in Jersey.
“They talked about a woman who wasn’t sleeping properly, and the tech flagged it. Turns out, she just needed leg lifts,” Jennifer shares. “That’s the kind of person-centred tech I want to see, not just alerting you, but helping you understand why someone’s behaviour is changing.”
Highlights from the Day
Jennifer enjoyed seeing familiar faces and reconnecting with others who work at the intersection of tech and care innovation. She noted the presence of more wearable tech this year and revisited the Nobi smart lamps, which had caught her attention the previous year.
“Nobi lamps show you as a stick figure, so it protects your dignity while monitoring for falls,” she explains. “I met Sue Castick and Deborah Gent at ITEC last year, and they were working on getting the price down. Now it’s gone from over £2,000 to around £1200 and less if you buy in bulk, which is real progress.”
She was also impressed by developments in AI-powered tools like the Heleos lamp, which, “just screws into your regular light fitting” – and standalone Alexa-style devices that preserve data privacy. “I loved the one that can text your family if you haven’t moved for five hours. It doesn’t invade your life but quietly supports it.”
Hopes for the Future of Tech-Care
Jennifer wants future conferences to go further in platforming voices like hers.
“We need to stop using the phrase ‘end user.’ I’m not an ‘end’. I’m a person who draws on care. I’m someone with a life and goals. Tech companies need to hear that.”
She wants to see true co-production, not just token consultation. “Ask us how we want to live. For me, that means being spontaneous. If I want to go to bed late, I can. I’d love for tech that makes that possible. And not have to be reliant on my carer having to work late and to be able to be spontaneous. But for someone else, care might be their main human interaction, so we can’t design everything around independence alone. It has to be person-centered care.”
Jennifer’s vision is clear: a world where people with disabilities are not just included, but central to the innovation processes that aim to serve them.
“Bring us into the room. Not after it’s built – from the start. That’s when the changes really happen.”
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