AR for Workers with Intellectual Disabilities

» According to the International Labour Union, “One out of every six people in the world – or 1 billion people – has a disability. Between 785 and 975 million of them are estimated to be of working age, but most do not work.”1

» Many countries do not have the necessary mechanisms in place to respond to the needs of people with disabilities.

» The World Health Organization cites several studies reporting that people with mental health difficulties or intellectual impairments have the lowest employment rates, including one that found people with intellectual impairments were three to four times less likely to be employed than people without disabilities — and more likely to have more frequent and longer periods of unemployment.

» Vodafone Spain Foundation designed three custom mobile applications using the Qualcomm® Vuforia™ augmented reality (AR) platform, a product of Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., The AR applications overlay digital material onto physical environments and can be accessed anywhere from a Qualcomm-enabled mobile device with 3G connectivity, a camera, and GPS capabilities.

» These AR apps provided people with intellectual disabilities with interactive media including text, images, audio, video and 3D models that help increase their autonomy and integration in the work environment:

• EasyUse offers participants an interactive instruction guide with easy-to-understand commands to operate equipment such as printers, phones, washing machines and more. Job coaches have the ability to update the AR apps with additional graphics or tips for the workers through a web-based editor.
• Who Is Who provides a visual directory of employees with photos, names, and titles that are superimposed over the physical office space while using a tablet camera as a viewfinder. This application helps the user identify who is sitting at each workstation and easily locate the person they may need to work with to get their job done.
• Follow My Steps uses location-based AR technology, to deliver step-by-step directions enhanced with 3D graphics and audio to help people commute between their home and workplace.

» The AR solutions were designed to incorporate Information and Communication Technologies in training activities, creating an accessible environment that enhances each worker’s sense of security, emotional stability, communication, self-determination and participation in an equal-opportunity environment.

» Technology-rich activities enhanced the existing e-labora project, which is supported by the Spanish government through the previous Avanza.

• These AR applications on 3G-connected devices reduced the time a coach spends training each worker, thereby increasing the number of workers he or she can coach in a workday.

• Participants say they felt an increased level of confidence when performing tasks since the mobile app provides them with step-by-step instructions enhanced with colorful visuals and audio that they can review as often as necessary.

• Workers with intellectual disabilities claimed that the apps offer an alternative way of learning the material, which is helpful to those who have had difficulty reading numerous pages on printed manuals