Centre for Assistive Technology
The overall objective of the Center for Assistive Technology (CAT) is to contribute to the active inclusion of persons with …
Good practice
Imported
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Able to Include
Belgium · Leuven · Transnational · See the Belgium profile · See the Leuven profile
Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 36/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
The Able to Include project sought to improve the living conditions of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). There are many technological tools focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities, BUT most of them are not accessible to people with intelle
Details
- Maturity
- Pilot
- Promoter
- Centre for Computational Linguistics, KU Leuven — website
- Type
- Policy
- Status
- Ended
- Target groups
- People with disabilities
- Period
- 2014-03-01 – 2017-03-30
- Region (NUTS)
BE24- Keywords
- Digital inclusion, intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, accessibility, technological tools.
Context
People with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) struggle to access technological tools, even those designed for people with disabilities, resulting in exclusion from the information society. Able to Include (2014-2017) brought together 7 organisations from 4 countries (KU Leuven, National Microelectronics Applications Centre Ireland, Thomas More Kempen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Building Bridges Training, Inclusion Europe, Fundación Prodis).
Objectives
Integrate existing technologies into an open-source, context-aware accessibility layer that, when combined with current and future ICT tools, helps people with IDD interact with the information society.
Activities
Tested the accessibility layer in 3 usage scenarios (AbleSocial, AbleChat, AbleMail) over a 14-month period, each in two iterations: a beta version tested and evaluated by end users, followed by further development and a second testing round. Produced an open-source Software Developer Kit (SDK) and steered an open-source community of developers and users.
Results
According to the project's final conclusions report, end-user satisfaction was very high and the Accessibility Layer Services were found to be reliable and to work well; no quantified metrics are reported.
Conclusions
High end-user participation across all project phases was identified as a key learning point.
Implementation
- Indicative cost
- Medium (€50k–€500k)
- Time to results
- Medium (1–3 years)
- Staffing & skills
- Software developers/researchers at KU Leuven, National Microelectronics Applications Centre (Ireland), Thomas More Kempen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, User-testing and feedback partners: Building Bridges Training, Inclusion Europe, Fundación Prodis
Conditions for success
- High end-user (people with IDD) participation and involvement across all project phases
- Iterative beta-then-refine testing cycles per usage scenario
- Open-source SDK and developer community to sustain the accessibility layer beyond the funded project
Commonly funded by
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
- MEDICI / Digital Inclusion Atlas — accessed 2026-06-14
- Practice website — accessed 2026-06-14
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