Aiming for apps that help the impaired

While the development of new technologies seems to be going forward in a vertiginous way, the abundance of options is lessened until almost disappearance when they come across the necessities of people with certain impairment, physical or intellectual.

“There is a high deficit of these kind of apps and programs for smartphones and tablets. There is even very few options in other languages”, says Marcelo Varela, vice-president of the Argentine Down Syndrome Association (Asdra).

In front of this lack thereof, different associations boost activities to stimulate the programmers to create new apps orientated to enhance the quality of life and teaching and learning processes of the people with special needs.

One of those actions was the First Hackathon for Inclusion, which took place last April organized by the Ministry of Social Development of Argentina, ASDRA and IBM Argentina.

The event summoned 150 participants who, divided in twelve interdisciplinary teams, had the mission of outlining, in less than 48 hours, an original solution capable of helping resolve an educative necessity for this group of people.

The head of ASDRA was in charge of opening the meeting, telling the software experts the particular characteristics these apps must gather. “We are talking about users very sensitive to words of support and susceptible to those of error. That is why we must be careful with the texts and images chosen for each screen. We also must avoid the use of designs with metaphors or abstract ideas: The more practical and to the point, the better”.

According to the organizers, the most promising developments are focused in representing situations in daily life so that children learn via playing how to cope with diverse situations, even shopping, among other abilities.

The winners received prizes in Argentine pesos and products, besides the reassurance that their creation will remain available to be used for free by thousands of impaired people and their families.

Those of us who get involved in education and, above all else, in inclusive education and new technologies, permanently seek new forms to reach the children, in order to cover their learning expectations and helping the development of their cognitive abilities, caring for each of their needs.

Sources:

http://www.perfil.com
http://www.facebook.com/hachathonxinclusion

More information:

http://eurocase.com/app-guia-padres-y-chicos-necesidades-especiales