Social Empowerment of Intellectually Impaired through a Cloud Mobile System

Laura Freina, Rosa Bottino, Michela Ott and Filippo Costa
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Laura Freina: CNR-ITD, Via de Marini 6, 16149 Genova, Italy
Rosa Bottino: CNR-ITD, Via de Marini 6, 16149 Genova, Italy
Michela Ott: CNR-ITD, Via de Marini 6, 16149 Genova, Italy
Filippo Costa: SoftJam S.p.A., Via Piave, 7, 16145 Genova, Italy

Future Internet, 2015, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: There is not a unique definition of “empowerment”, nevertheless the idea that it involves, on the one hand, people having control over their own lives and, on the other, some social aspects seems to be a common characteristic. Most authors recognize three levels of empowerment: individual, group, and community level, which are interconnected and changes at one level influence the others. Enhancing individual competence and self-esteem has a direct effect on the control of one’s own life and, in turn, on the social components of empowerment. In this paper we present Smart Angel, a project that aims at creating a network involving families, caregivers, experts, and tutors, as well as the final users and their friends, based on a mobile cloud system in support of both everyday living and urban mobility for people with medium-mild intellectual disabilities, with particular attention to the Down syndrome. The system can be seen as a tool to empower its users to be more independent and therefore increasing their possibility to have an active role in their life and an active participation to the community.

Keywords: empowerment; intellectual disabilities; mobility; cloud computing; technology enhanced learning; serious games; intellectual impairments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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