The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) is calling for submissions for its 2026 conference, which will take place in Long Beach, California, and Edison, New Jersey.
“RESNA is excited to announce that our 2026 conference will be held in two locations in partnership with Abilities International,” the association said in a July 22 announcement. “Join us for a dynamic professional conference co-located with Abilities International, where you’ll connect with ATPs, OTs, PTs, manufacturers, and more!”
The first part of the conference — March 26-27 in Long Beach — will feature RESNA workshops and sessions, scientific papers, and the developers’ showcase.
The second part of the conference — April 30-May 1 in the greater New York area — will feature workshops, sessions, scientific papers, the student scientific paper competition and the student design challenge.
RESNA’s 60-minute sessions and workshops are interactive classes that “make use of audience participation and group activities as a primary mechanism for knowledge transfer; this may include a single speaker, a panel of speakers, hands-on demonstrations, show and tell, and/or other creative formats.” The deadline for the Long Beach conference is Aug. 15; the deadline for the New York conference is Oct. 3.
Scientific papers will be presented either as an oral presentation or as a scientific paper poster. Papers that are accepted will be posted on RESNA’s website as part of the association’s online proceedings, and abstracts will also be published in RESNA’s Assistive Technology journal. The deadline is Nov. 17 for Long Beach, and Jan. 12, 2026, for New York for paper submissions.
Student scientific papers submissions will be accepted from full-time students in undergraduate or graduate academic programs. Winning competition submissions will be presented in a special platform session; all students whose submissions are accepted will be invited to present their work as posters. Student scientific papers will only be offered at the New York event. The deadline is Feb. 2, 2026.
The Developers’ Showcase features new products, products under development, and products being enhanced or redesigned. All types of assistive technology — including hardware, software, standards/guidelines, and instruments/tools — are eligible. Products in the showcase can be open source or commercial, but not currently on the market. Submissions from students, individual practitioners, researchers or manufacturers will be considered. The Developers’ Showcase is being held only at the Long Beach conference; the deadline is Jan. 12, 2026.
And finally, the Student Design Challenge — taking place at the New York conference only — is RESNA’s annual competition for undergrad, masters-level, and terminal clinical doctorate students “to create, develop and showcase assistive technology designs that help people with a variety of disabilities to live more independent lives.” Winning teams win monetary prizes; the $1000 first-place award is sponsored by the Joey Wallace Educational Scholarship Fund. The deadline to enter is Feb. 2, 2026.
The Abilities International Accessibility Conference is owned by the same company that produces the co-located, consumer-focused Abilities Expos.
