Technological Accessibility for People with an Intellectual Disability: A model for Organizational Support

For a few years, technology has created an effective revolution in the field of intervention among people with intellectual disabilities. The use of such technology contributes to social inclusion and participation of the people in their community. Unfortunately, several obstacles are encountered by social services during the implementation of technologies among people with intellectual disabilities. A research with new ideas and new results was conducted with 11 managers in the field of social services to identify their needs and expectations as well as the difficulties they encounter in deploying technology during intervention. This research documents the mechanisms for social services and more specifically the elements that promotes an optimal access to technology. Results have allowed the creation of a management model supporting the application of technology in the field of social services which is called the Multidimensional Model of Organization's Support. The model is based on three fundamental and interrelated dimensions (management, clinical and technical) and 3 parameters (the user profile of a technological innovation, the type of technology and the life cycle of technologies). Preliminary results confirm the importance of providing different forms of support to clinicians in each dimension according to the identified parameters.