LUDI: a Pan-European Network Addressing Technology to Support Play for Children with Disabilities

The right to play is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a consequence of its importance to overall child development. Children with disabilities are often deprived of this right due to functional limitations, the lack of supporting technologies, and social and cultural contexts in which play is frequently seen as secondary when compared to rehabilitation interventions. This paper presents the COST Action LUDI, a Pan-European network aiming at the recognition of the theme of play for children with disabilities as a multi- and trans-disciplinary research field to which the contribution of psycho-pedagogical sciences, health and rehabilitation sciences, humanities, assistive technologies and robotics, as well as the contribution of end-users’ organizations, is necessary to grant the right to play for children with disabilities.