Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become a key tool for people who have disabilities, forming the basis for a variety of assistive technologies.

As ICTs become more widely known, people who have disabilities have found a central anchor to access and take part in the information society. Our community now recognizes there is a need and goal to make an information society more accessible.

The Institute for Integrated Studies

Originally a model project, the institute was created in 1991 to offer services to students who have disabilities under a focus of information technologies for people in research and development who have disabilities.

The Institute for Integrated Studies conducts research in the field of "Disabilities". Although initially very IT-based, other areas have been included and today, research is conducted in the fields of "eAccessibility", "Mathematics & Games" and "Social Integration".

Supporting Students who have Disabilities

With the support of over 100 students who have disabilities at all faculties at the University of Linz and in cooperation with 5 partner universities that face many of the same challenges, we were able to prove integration is possible, necessary and fruitful.

Research and Development

The Institute for Integrated Studies carried out almost 100 research activities and projects on a local, national and international level, making significant contributions to establishing research fields of Assistive Technologies, Design for All and (e)Inclusion.

The bi-annual conference "International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs" (ICCHP) was launched in 1989 to support networked research and development in assistive technologies for people who have disabilities and for the aging population. Since 2002, this conference has become a world leader in this area, organized every two years by the Institute for Integrated Studies.