OUTCOMES

Internet accessibility projects have hitherto prioritised the needs of those with sensory and motor impairment, often to the exclusion of the consideration of cognitive disability.

Project APPLE aims to address this omission. The project's exploration of the design and practice requirements for the inclusion and participation of people with a full range of cognitive disability in E learning and the World Wide Web will result in the following key outcomes:

• the development of standards and guidelines relating to the requirements of people with cognitive disability, to be presented to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C's WAI) and to Macromedia, to be incorporated into the development of their multimedia authoring tools;
• the development of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for use by people with cognitive disabilities, in collaboration with supporters where appropriate. The VLE will allow young people with learning disabilities to create multimedia 'passports' to be used as a form of self-advocacy by the young people in the decisions that are made about their futures.