Our work in this area is currently taking place within a three-year project, running from November 2022 to November 2025 called Disability Inclusive AI. In this project, we advocate for strong regulation in AI, build the capacity of EDF members and make politicians, companies and the general public aware of the need to include persons with disabilities in the design and use of AI.  The project is only possible thanks to the generous support of the European AI and Society Fund.

Advocacy

We work on advocating for fundamental rights in artificial intelligence, together with other digital and human rights organisations like Edri and Equinet.  Through this work, we have succeeded in making the European Union’s AI Act more disability-friendly. The rights of people with disabilities are emphasised in several parts of the law. Now that the  Act has been passed, we are working on its implementation, as many details still need to be clarified by the European Commission.

Capacity Building

We build and support the capacity of our members. We organised two webinars on AI and disability in 2023. One focused on AI in employment and education, and the other on access to services. Additionally, we participated in events related to AI organised by our member organisations.

Furthermore, we made a subgrant available for our member organisations. We were able to use part of the grant from the AI fund to enable seven member organisations to carry out smaller projects on AI. For example, Sustento, our Latvian member, organised a conference, and the  European Council of Autistic People (EUCAP) held an internal training course for their members.

With the AI Act now passed, we’re helping our members actively participate with their countries’ preparations. We will host an online workshop on 15 October 2024 to introduce an AI Act implementation toolkit we will publish, helping national member organizations get ready for the Act.

Awareness Raising

In terms of raising awareness, EDF has contributed with its expertise by contributing to reports and publishing content like articles and an animation video on AI and disability.

For example, we contributed with our expertise to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report on AI to support persons with disabilities in the labour market.

Lastly, EDF has a newsletter about our work on AI, keeping our members and interested persons informed on the latest developments.