Functional areas addressed through rehabilitation engineering may include mobility, communications, hearing, vision, and cognition, and activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community.
The Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), whose mission is to "improve the potential of people with disabilities to achieve their goals through the use of technology", is one of the main professional societies for rehabilitation engineers.
UK Professional Bodies for Clinical Scientists in Rehabilitation Engineering: The rehabilitation process for people with disabilities often entails mechanical design of assistive devices such as Walking aids intended to promote inclusion of their users into the mainstream of society, commerce, and recreation.
Within the National Health Service of the United Kingdom Rehabilitation Engineers are commonly involved with assessment and provision of wheelchairs and seating to promote good posture and independent mobility.
It is of great importance to patients with locked-in syndrome, it uses neural signals to command the wheelchair.