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Digital accessibility and assistive technology training at EASPD conference in Malta

The tailored training for service providers was organised by EASPD’s Member Forum on Person Centred Technology and the Smart4Health project.

On the 12th of October, EASPD’s Member Forum on Person Centred Technology (PCT), in collaboration with the Smart4Health Horizon project, organised a tailored training on digital accessibility and assistive technology at EASPD's international conference in Malta. This activity was part of the Lighthouse Network, a peer-to-peer learning and knowledge-sharing activity created at EASPD to foster the exchange of knowledge and best practices within the membership.

A total of 40+ participants attended this interactive training session. In his welcome remarks Evert-Jan Hoogerwerf, Chair of the PCT forum, highlighted the importance of how digital accessibility competences and knowledge of assistive technologies help service providers to deliver better quality services. The training started with a session by Ilaria Valoti from AIAS Bologna Italy. She introduced the basic concept of digital accessibility with a few valuable tools available online to check accessibility features of websites and apps. During the second session, Dr May Agius and Sharon Borg Schembri from Access to Communication & Technology Unit (ACTU), Aġenzija Sapport, Malta talked about the types of assistive technology, their categories and how it plays a crucial role to enable participation of people with disabilities and empowering their independent living. Lastly, Renaud Scheuer, Head of Knowledge and Innovation at EASPD, gave a short introduction to the Horizon project Smart4Health. Later on, all participants joined an interactive focus group excercise where they applied their learning to assess the accessibility of a health data record and sharing platform developed under the project. All participants also shared their instant feedback on the platform by completing a usability scale survey.

In her final remarks, Dr. May Agius shared an open invitation to all participants to join the Person-Centred Technology (PCT) Forum meetings to know more about the recent developments in the field of assistive technologies.