Ensuring access to the information society for people with disabilities through effective use of design for all methodologies

Abstract

Since the European Commision's Information Society Technologies Program Advisory Group (ISTAG) coined the phrase "ambient intelligence" [1], [2] a much anticipated future has been considered. That future would involve people with disabilities living in a world populated by interconnected networks of intelligent devices, providing the means for communication, information retrieval, entertainment. A responsibility now exists to include people with disabilities in the debate and discussion of what such a future will mean to them, how it will improve their quality of life and how the potential of future technologies can be appropriately exploited. This paper outlines a collaborative process undertaken by the Central Remedial Clinic, providing a total of 34 people with different disabilities with an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the ISTAG scenarios and envision their own future as citizens with disabilities in a world surrounded by and supported by, as yet unrealised, ambient intelligences. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.