About project

10 partner countries, brought together by the Caravan 2000 International network, an international association that has been working for 20 years for greater inclusion of people with disabilities (PWDs) or disadvantaged (17 member countries) have made digital access a priority.

This project complements the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy and in particular those of the Agenda for new skills and jobs. The majority of the partners, in a previous project (STELLA - 2017-1- DE02-KA204-004167) had already carried out work on the basic skills of people with disabilities, which led to the creation of a guide for professionals who want to pass on these skills to their audience.

While the results of this work will lead to greater employability, better inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities, it is clear that digital skills must be aligned with the skills of communication, organization, critical thinking, etc. , developed by the STELLA project. Today the digital transition is accelerating and the gap is widening among the most population with disabilities, making their inclusion in our society more complex.

The IDA project aims to create tools adapted to people with special needs in most uses of ICT’s.

The partners, based on a survey of the needs of PWDs, will work in synergy with the recipients as well as with the Bank of Research and Development Turkey, making available its researchers-developers to create innovative tools, simplifying access to ICTs, including for illiterate people.

This work will involve different phases, ensuring the quality of the products produced.

These phases will take place in the following model:

• Identification of needs

• Module proposals for each application identified

• Create modules

• Test of tools created

• Adjustments

• Finalization of tools

All these phases will enter into a regular process of elaboration in each of the partner countries, then of consultation, evaluation and finalization at transnational meetings. Training activities are also planned for training on the tools created, as well as for the various adjustments, to the expected results.

Each person with a disability, meeting the principle of learning from the learner, will be present in all stages of tool development.

Primarily, these tools will find themselves in two forms of access to digital media:

- Dedicated tools for smartphones as APPs

- E-learning content on a Website

These tools will be available on Android, Ios, and the Web

They will be developed for the following main uses:

• Communication (mail, call, social media, etc.)

• Organization (managing an agenda, making appointments, etc.)

• Information (Internet searches)

• E-administration

• Leisure, shopping

Particular attention will be paid to all applications developed in terms of security. The same applies to the rules governing online content and transactions.

Simplifying the means of the use of the main functions inherent in ICTs will have a major impact on people with disabilities. Not only will they be able to easily access tools that were previously too complicated to use, but they will also be the main multipliers by communicating the tools to their peers.

While many improvements have been made for disability problems (visual, auditory, etc.), intellectual disability, which is more invisible, has long been ignored in these developments. We can bet that with the IDA project, these people will finally find their place in the digital world and indeed in our society.

Project duration: 01/12/2019 - 31/08/2022