Living labs and open toolkit for the co-design of accessible IT systems and tools

LIVE-IT addresses the PPPA-AG Pilot Project Pilot Project & Preparation Action Grant: Inclusive web accessibility for persons with cognitive disabilities. In line with the PPPA definition (Working Document on Pilot projects and Preparatory actions in budget 2019 and 2020, Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union, European Parliament European Commission, June 2019) LIVE IT carries out small scale experiments that contribute to testing the feasibility and usefulness of platforms and tools to support the digital inclusion of people with cognitive impairment.

LIVE-IT establishes a set of co-design Labs – supported by a virtual makerspace, online community and hackathon series – that are at the heart of this purpose. Drawing on the principles and methods successfully established by the Living Lab model, the co-design Labs turn the traditional top-down, expert-driven design model on its head and use a ‘design thinking’ approach to enable people with cognitive disabilities to become co-architects of their own future digital world in an accessibility service model.