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Human Language Technology and Communicative Disabilities: Requirements and Possibilities for the Future

For some years now, the Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) has been active in promoting the development of human language technology (HLT) applications for users of Dutch with communication disabilities. The reason is that HLT products and services may enable these users to improve their verbal autonomy and communication skills. We sought to identify a minimum common set of HLT resources that is required to develop tools for a wide range of communication disabilities. In order to reach this goal, we investigated the specific HLT needs of communicatively disabled people and related these needs to the underlying HLT software components. By analysing the availability and quality of these essential HLT resources, we were able to identify which of the crucial elements need further research and development to become usable for developing applications for communicatively disabled users of Dutch. The results obtained in the current survey can be used to inform policy institutions on how they can stimulate the development of HLT resources for this target group. In the current study results were obtained for Dutch, but a similar approach can also be used for other languages.