An accessibility layer for the inclusion in the information society of people with intellectual disabilities

The ABLE-TO-INCLUDE project seeks to improve the living conditions of people with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD). The project will produce an open source Software Developer Kit (SDK) that will foster the introduction of a communicational accessibility layer for people with IDD in any software development. This will be done by steering the creation on an open-innovation community including software developers.The main target users are people IDD, representing one of the most disadvantaged social groups in European countries, with very high levels of need for assistance. ICT tools can bring independency to IDD users but the failure to access or use ICT increasingly constitutes a major form of social and economic exclusion. A secondary but important target are the software developers, that will be enabled to use the new accessibility layer and SDK in existing and new software and apps.3 key technologies will be used as a framework to develop everyday tasks.• Tech 1: Text and content simplifier (Simplext)• Tech 2: A pictogram-text, text-pictogram and pictogram-pictogram translation tool (Text2Picto)• Tech 3: Text-to-speech functionalities (open-source available solutions)The new accessibility layer will be integrated with existing applications and tested in 3 pilots including 3 different usage scenarios. Every scenario will benefit from the use of the technologies available through the accessibility layer: simplification of texts, conversion text - pictograms and text-to-speech technologies.• Scen.1: Leisure within the information society. Application of the accessibility layer to Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp.• Scen.2: Mobility. Application of the accessibility layer into a guidance and tracking system.• Scen.3: Labour integration. Application of the accessibility layer (including text simplification, pictograms translation and text-to-speech) into the routine of the future workers during their preparation to become a real aid for IDD users.