Designing assistive technologies for children with disabilities: A case study of a family living with a daughter with intellectual disability

Abstract

Children with disabilities are one of the most vulnerable groups of the population. They experience social exclusion and inequity, as do their difficulties to integrate into society. Many families raising children with disabilities try to do everything to improve their quality of life. This paper describes a case study of an Ecuadorian family who was encouraged to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the everyday life of their girl with intellectual and language disabilities. The experience with the most popular technologies at home-Computer, tablet, smartphone, and videogame console-motivated the whole family to adapt and design assistive technologies for their daughter. Their motivation allowed us to find people and institutions who supported the design of ICT for different disabilities: AINIDIU, HELPMI, CANDI, LUCKI, MAGIC GLASS, JADAN VERBAL, TIC@ULA and KITERACY. An interdisciplinary group of experts participated in the development of these technologies: A Computer Engineer, a Phycologist, a blind person, students and Especial Education teachers. Since 2009, about 50 children with disabilities and 20 Especial Education teachers have been involved in the evaluation of the prototypes. With the support of Universidad Indoamérica and Ecuadorian Government, 1500 children with visual impairment were benefited with the software AINIDIU in some provinces of Ecuador. The article describes the history of this great experience.