This graduation project was conducted for Koninklijke Visio, an organization that provides day and residential care for individuals with visual and intellectual disabilities. The organization strives to enhance the use of assistive technologies, improving the quality of care, independence, and participation of its clients. Despite the availability of assistive technologies, their adoption and integration into daily care practice remain limited. In this project, I therefore addressed the following central research question:

“How do clients, supporters, and professionals within Visio engage with assistive technologies, and what does this reveal about opportunities to improve care quality?”
The project focused on three key stakeholder groups: clients, supporters, and care professionals. These three stakeholders were separately analysed. First, observations were conducted to gain insight into how clients currently use assistive technologies in practice. Second, desk research was conducted into the information, tools, and knowledge provided by the supporters of the care professionals. Third, qualitative interviews with the care professionals were conducted to gain insights into their experiences, attitudes, and perceived barriers regarding assistive technology use. The combined analyses indicated that care professionals play a key role in the adoption of assistive technologies and significantly influence both clients and supporters. As a result, I narrowed the project focus to this stakeholder group.

The core problem underlying the limited use of assistive technologies among care professionals was identified as the absence of a shared learning environment. As a result, learning largely occurs individually rather than collaboratively, limiting sustainable adoption.

Based on these findings, I explored several potential interventions and discussed these with care professionals through qualitative interviews. With the gained insights, a coherent set of interventions was designed, structured into three interconnected intervention areas. The first intervention area focuses on increasing basic technology skills, acknowledging the influence of personal technology experiences on professional behaviour. The second area aims at mapping and structuring assistive technology knowledge, providing a necessary organizational foundation. The third area focuses on collaborative learning and openness, targeting the integration of assistive technologies into daily practice and organizational culture. This intervention area consists of a recurring learning cycle that combines awareness-raising, active collaborative learning, visible knowledge in the work environment, and space for reflection and questions. These elements lower barriers, build confidence, and support the structural embedding of assistive technologies in daily practice and organizational culture. This intervention area is considered the most impactful with active collaborative learning sessions identified as the most effective intervention element.

The designed interventions should be understood as a starting point for further development rather than as a final answer. It is recommended that responsibility be assigned to key figures at each facility to ensure continuity and adaptation of the interventions to local contexts and team dynamics. Additionally, clear communication and appropriate framing, like using Dutch materials and minimizing the use of the term "technology", are essential to maintain engagement. Finally, encouraging care professionals to actively contribute their own interpretations and experiences can support contextual relevance and strengthen collective learning over time.