Viamigo: A digital travel assistant for people with intellectual disabilities: Modeling and design using contemporary intelligent technologies as a support for independent traveling of people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The ABLE-TO-INCLUDE is a European CIP project that seeks to improve the lives of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) and similar conditions. In order to be included in today's society it is becoming increasingly important to be able to use the current available technological tools. The number of apps is growing exponentially but very few are really accessible to people with IDD. Accessibility is usually a missing variable of the equation, and when present is usually directed towards user with a sensory disability, such as visual or listening impairment. This scenario derives in a social breach that excludes people with IDD from the information society. In order to palliate this situation, the ABLE-TO-INLCUDE project creates a context aware accessibility layer based in developed components that, by being integrated with existent and future ICT tools (especially with mobile apps) can improve daily tasks of people with IDD and help them interact with the information society. The integration of this accessibility layer with existent ICT tools will be demonstrated in 3 different pilots in Spain, Belgium and UK, in 3 different usage scenarios (leisure within the information society, mobility and labour integration). In this paper, we focus on the mobility pilot in Belgium. This pilot builds on the research that led to the development of the Viamigo toolkit. This is composed of apps that monitors people on the move, evaluates their position against the expected path and alerts caretakers or coaches when unexpected events occur. The benefits of such a toolkit are discussed. Vulnerable people use Viamigo. The organisations, parents and caretakers are often not very familiar with the use of technology. The design and modeling of Viamigo is therefore much depending on users expectations and acceptance of the technology. This paper will report on methods and results of the human-centered approach walked hand in hand with the development cycle. This paper also reports on interactions with the different stakeholders, the technological choices that resulted from this and the architecture that is put in place to support these choices. The Viamigo project is used as an interdisciplinary platform that brings together students from engineering, social science and occupational therapy. They contribute to the research from different perspectives and collaborate over the borders of their own study field. Finally, we discuss the future development, based on user experiences and technological opportunities.