Roadmap to inclusive Artificial Intelligence for persons with intellectual disability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17411/jacces.v15i2.625Abstract
The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses significant opportunities and challenges for historically discriminated groups, such as persons with intellectual disabilities. This article proposes a conceptual framework that enables an inclusive and accessible approach to designing generative AI systems. Based on an exhaustive review of legislative, socio-health, and technological sources, key concepts such as disability, accessibility, and usability are defined and related, with intellectual disability serving as the central objective of this work. The need to apply principles of Universal Design (UD) and User-Centred Design (UCD) is highlighted to ensure products, environments, and services that are understandable, usable, and customisable. Finally, specific challenges are identified in the development of generative AI tools in Spain for persons with intellectual disabilities, and specific recommendations are proposed to promote inclusive AI for all.
References
AAIDD (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR). United States of America: American Psychiatric Association. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
AccessibleEU-1 (2023). Accessible EU Report Accessibility Standards at European Level. European Accessibility Resource Centre (AccessibleEU). European Comission. https://accessible-eu-centre.ec.europa.eu/document/download/29483ad1-a3aa-4c0b-b1ee-81feb44f048b_en?filename=ACCESSIBLE%20EU%20REPORT%2001_%20Acc%20Standards%20E.L.20230511_acc_0.pdf
AccessibleEU-2 (2023). Accessible EU Report Accessibility Legislation at European Level.European Accessibility Resource Centre (AccessibleEU). European Comission. https://accessible-eu-centre.ec.europa.eu/document/download/335a6949-bc65-451b-9122-398103770fd8_en?filename=ACCESSIBLE%20EU%20REPORT%2002_%20Acc%20Legislation%20E.L.20230608_acc_0.pdf
Acosta-Vargas, P., Salvador-Acosta, B., Novillo-Villegas, S., Sarantis, D., & Salvador-Ullauri, L. (2024). Generative Artificial Intelligence and Web Accessibility: Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Future. Emerging Science Journal, 8(4), 1602-1621. https://doi.org/10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-04-021
BOE (1982). Ley 13/1982, de 7 de abril, de integración social de los minusválidos. Gobierno de España, Jefatura del Estado. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/1982/04/07/13/con
BOE (2008). Instrumento de Ratificación de la Convención sobre los derechos de las personas con discapacidad, hecho en Nueva York el 13 de diciembre de 2006. Gobierno de España, Jefatura del Estado. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/ai/2006/12/13/(1)/con
BOE (2013). Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2013, de 29 de noviembre, por el que se aprueba el Texto Refundido de la Ley General de derechos de las personas con discapacidad y de su inclusión social. Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rdlg/2013/11/29/1/con
BOE (2018). Real Decreto 1112/2018, de 7 de septiembre, sobre accesibilidad de los sitios web y aplicaciones para dispositivos móviles del sector público. Gobierno de España. Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2018/09/07/1112/con
BOE (2022). Real Decreto 888/2022, de 18 de octubre, por el que se establece el procedimiento para el reconocimiento, declaración y calificación del grado de discapacidad. Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Derechos Sociales y Agenda 2030. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2022/10/18/888
BOE (2023). Real Decreto 193/2023, de 21 de marzo, por el que se regulan las condiciones básicas de accesibilidad y no discriminación de las personas con discapacidad para el acceso y utilización de los bienes y servicios a disposición del público. Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Derechos Sociales y Agenda 2030. Madrid: Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE). https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2023/03/21/193
Booth, T., & Ainscow, M. (2002). Index for inclusion. Developing learning and participation in schools. Bristol: Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE). http://www.eenet.org.uk/resources/docs/Index%20English.pdf
Brown, T. (2008). Desgin Thinking. Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes and even strategy. Harvard Business Review, 10. https://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking
CUD (1997). Principies of Universal Desgin. Ronald L. Mace Universal Design Institute. The Center for Universal Design. https://www.udinstitute.org/whatisud
ETSI (2021). norma EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03) - Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/03.02.01_60/en_301549v030201p.pdf
EU (2016). Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2016/2102/oj
EU (2019). Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/882/oj.
EU-1 (2019). A definition of AI: main capabilities and disciplines. High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=56341
EU-2 (2019). Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI. High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=60419
EU (2021). Union of equality: Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities 2021-2030. European Commission: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2767/31633
EU (2024). Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act). The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj
Haroon, R., & Dogar, F. (2024, October). Twips: A large language model powered texting application to simplify conversational nuances for autistic users. In Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (pp. 1-18). https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2407.17760
Liu, X., Lau, N., Chuin, A., Leung, W. K. R., Ho, A. H. S., Das, M., ... & Kwok, C. L. (2023, November). Understanding students’ perspectives, practices, and challenges of designing with AI in special schools. In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Symposium of Chinese CHI (pp. 197-209). https://doi.org/10.1145/3629606.3629625
Nielsen. J. (2023). AI: First New UI paradigm in 60 years. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ai-paradigm.
Norman, D. (2004). Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books. https://www.nngroup.com/books/emotional-design
Norman, D., & Draper, S. (1986). User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-computer Interaction. CRC Press. https://www.nngroup.com/books/user-centered-system-design
Norman, D., & Nielsen, J. (1998). The Definition of User Experience (UX). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience.
Roomkham, S., & Sitbon, L. (2024, March). Restarting the conversation about conversational search: exploring new possibilities for multimodal and collaborative systems with people with intellectual disability. In Proceedings of the 2024 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (pp. 231-242). https://doi.org/10.1145/3627508.3638339
UN (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York, 13 December 2006. United Nations. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CTC/Ch_IV_15.pdf
UN (2014). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. General comment No. 2 (2014). Article 9: Accessibility. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations. https://docs.un.org/en/CRPD/C/GC/2
UN (2021). Rights of persons with disabilities: report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations. Human Rights Council. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3956054
UNE (2018). UNE-EN ISO 9241-11:2018. Ergonomía de la interacción hombre-sistema. Parte 11: Usabilidad. Definiciones y conceptos. Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR). https://www.une.org/encuentra-tu-norma/busca-tu-norma/norma?c=N0060329
UNE-1 (2018). UNE 153101:2018 EX de lectura fácil. Pautas y recomendaciones para la elaboración de documentos. Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR). https://www.une.org/encuentra-tu-norma/busca-tu-norma/norma/?c=N0060036#.WwVKBiC-mM-
UNE (2019). UNE-EN ISO 9241-210:2019. Ergonomía de la interacción hombre-sistema - Parte 210: Diseño centrado en el operador humano para los sistemas interactivos. Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR). https://www.une.org/encuentra-tu-norma/busca-tu-norma/norma?c=N0062677
UNE (2022). UNE-EN 301549:2022. Requisitos de accesibilidad para productos y servicios TIC.. Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR). https://www.une.org/encuentra-tu-norma/busca-tu-norma/norma?c=N0068037
UNE (2023). UNE-EN ISO 9999:2023 Productos de apoyo. Clasificación y terminología. Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación (AENOR). https://tienda.aenor.com/norma-une-en-iso-9999-2023-n0070970
W3C (2021). Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities. Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). https://www.w3.org/TR/coga-usable
W3C (2023) WAI-ARIA Overview. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria
W3C (2024). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22
Weiser, M. (1999). The computer for the 21st century. ACM SIGMOBILE mobile computing and communications review, 3(3), 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0991-94
WHO (1992). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD-10). World Health Organisation.https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/246208/1/9789241549165-V1-eng.pdf
WHO (2001). International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). World Health Organization. World Health Organisation. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/42407/9241545429.pdf?sequence=1
WHO (2023). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 11th revision (ICD-11). World Health Organisation.https://icdcdn.who.int/icd11referenceguide/en/refguide.pdf
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Guasch D., Rodrigo C., Francisco V., Hervás R.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share or adapt the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Use of the work for commercial purposes are not allowed.
- Authors are able to publish the journal's published version of the work in other media (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as far as they inform the Journal of Accessibility and Design for All of that fact. When publishing their work in other sources, authors must mention the name of the Journal of Accessibility and Design for All, its ISSN, the number and issue in which the article was published and a link to the main page of the Journal of Accessibility and Design for All. Optionally, they can also include a link to the article published in the Journal of Accessibility and Design for All.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website), as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
