June 28, 2025

Overview: 

Each time the United States engages in a new war or combat situation, a new generation of wounded veterans returns home—many with complex and permanent disabilities. While advances in battlefield medicine are increasing survival rates, they have also resulted in a growing population of veterans with amputations, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and other lasting impairments. These visible and invisible wounds require long-term, adaptive solutions.

Yet despite decades of repeated conflict, the nation has not adequately invested in the assistive technologies needed to support these individuals. The technology gap continues to limit independence, mobility, and quality of life for thousands of veterans.

Disability and Warfare

• More than 4.9 million veterans in the U.S. have a service-connected disability.
• Veterans of recent wars—particularly Iraq and Afghanistan—report higher rates of disability than any previous generation.
• The use of IEDs, urban warfare, and repeated deployments has resulted in a rise in polytrauma cases: individuals with multiple, complex disabilities.

A Longstanding Deficit in Technology Access
Veterans returning home often face a system that is outdated and under-resourced:

• Prosthetics and wheelchairs provided by the Veterans Administration (VA) are often based on older models and don’t integrate newer innovations like robotics or AI.
• Technologies that could offer autonomy—such as robotic exoskeletons, smart hygiene tools, or adaptive home devices—remain too costly for most.
• The innovation pipeline is slow, underfunded, and disconnected from the lived experiences of veterans themselves.

The Legacy and Evolution of Envisioning Access
Envisioning Access was founded in 1979 to help disabled veterans returning from Vietnam. In our early years, we provided service monkeys trained to assist with daily tasks—an innovative approach at the time that gave veterans greater independence.
Over the past four decades, the needs of the community have evolved—and so have we. In the last four years, Envisioning Access has transitioned to focus on the next generation of support: technology. We now:

• Partner with startups and universities to identify and test cutting-edge disability tools;
• Fund innovation that helps people with physical disabilities live independently; and,
• Advocate for systems change that centers on the needs of disabled individuals, including veterans.

We are proud of our roots, and equally committed to the future—where the best of human creativity and technology meets the needs of those who have served.

Policy Recommendations

1. Invest in Envisioning Access to Bridge the Innovation Gap
   • Fund Envisioning Access as a national partner to develop, test, and deploy cutting-edge disability technologies.
   • Enable Envisioning Access to collaborate directly with the VA to scale innovation into veteran care systems.
2. Involve Veterans in Design and Testing
   • Create pathways for disabled veterans to serve as co-creators and testers of new technologies, ensuring that products meet real-world needs.
3. Support Nonprofit-Private Collaboration 
   • Provide federal and philanthropic support to organizations like Envisioning Access, which have the agility and community trust to help bring innovation directly to users.
4. End the Cycle of War
   • The most effective way to reduce service-connected disability is to avoid unnecessary conflict. War reliably produces disability—and if the nation wishes to reduce the burden, it must reconsider its reliance on military intervention as a foreign policy tool.

Conclusion
War always leaves a human cost. For those who return home with disabilities, we have a duty to provide more than gratitude—we must ensure access to tools that restore autonomy, mobility, and dignity. By shifting national priorities and investing in the future of assistive technology—through trusted, mission-driven organizations like Envisioning Access—we can finally begin to meet the full measure of that responsibility.

If you are a veteran and are interested in learning more about Envisioning Access, please reach out to us.