Contributor(s)

Jo Daems, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium

Wim de Backer, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium

Description

Historically, assistive technologies have been expensive and exclusive to people with disabilities. However, assistive technologies are becoming more mainstream and commonly used applications such as translation and text simplification can provide greater access for all. Technologies such as text-to-speech, magnification, word prediction, … are becoming interesting options for everyone through built-in accessibility settings, web services and free or low-cost applications. As a result, these technological innovations can lower even more digital barriers. This will benefit not only people with disabilities, but also those with low literacy levels, language barriers, older people or those who find digital technology overwhelming or complex.

At the same time, all these tools remain largely unknown to a wide audience.

In this project, we developed ten practical guides addressing ten specific, everyday digital barriers. To do this, we selected ten tools based on a widespread survey of the main needs of people who experience digital barriers. The solutions elaborated in the manuals are therefore not exclusively assistive technologies but also more mainstream technologies such as password management. After the selection, we developed a prototype of the manuals, on which we asked for feedback from professionals and digital support volunteers (=“digihelpers”) from different contexts and backgrounds in four co-creation sessions in four different locations in Flanders. After processing the feedback, we presented the manuals again to a group of stakeholders (digihelpers and help-seekers) and then finalised the manuals. In this way we were able to tailor the content and the form of the manuals (structure, language, symbols, images) to a broad group of end-users.

The dissemination of the project is supported by numerous organizations across Flanders that are actively working towards digital inclusion. Through this network, we provide thousands of digihelpers (professionals and digital support volunteers) with a hands-on introduction to existing solutions to digital barriers while simultaneously increasing overall public awareness of these solutions. During one of the co-creation sessions, a participant came up with the tagline “encouraging the search for solutions”.

Presenter(s)

Jo Daems, Wim de Backer