Adults with learning disabilities in the UK face multiple barriers to gaining paid employment, often experiencing a lack of good quality support to get and maintain employment, a lack of support to build confidence and skills, employers’ attitudes and a lack of understanding about what people with a learning disability can do with the right support. (Mencap 2021). This large and marginalised community has a very low employment rate and yet many people within it are capable of doing work in sectors where there are vacancies. This tool aims to address some of the key issues that prevent this group from entering and prospering in the workplace.
Assistiv will build and test a Task Manager system which will allow the user to tap an NFC sticker located in strategic locations around the workplace. This will automatically direct the employee to a series of personalised prompts which they can access on their phones (image, audio, video) to support them to complete the task independently and to a high standard. A back-office system will record what tasks have been completed, what QA checks have been carried out and how the individual feels at different stages throughout the workday. The tool is focussed on supporting the onboarding process, enabling people with learning difficulties to perform work-related tasks with in-situ support.
