**6. The role of the emerging technologies**

In recent times more and more use has been made of emerging technologies [38], which make it possible to fill the gap that separates students with learning difficulties from others, in favor of greater equality.

Technological tools and their increasingly advanced functions are allowing for a growing participation of people with disabilities in various social and professional contexts, opening up spaces for the realization of personal and professional inclusion.

This concerns not only people with sensory disabilities, through the use of aids useful for overcoming the concrete situation of disadvantage, but, more generally, also all situations in which heterogeneous difficulties of a relational, intellectual, and cognitive nature are present. In fact, technology can show "old" topics in a new light, it can make the educational process captivating, and it can attract the attention of those who normally exclude themselves from interaction because they find studying boring and meaningless [39].

Now many dedicated software are available, with facilitating purposes, structured in a multiple and functional way with respect to the specificities. They are particularly useful in training contexts, as they allow for new approaches and possibilities to teaching, offering multiple opportunities that respond to different needs. Above all, what is important is the fact that technological tools allow a great personalization of learning; therefore, they are a useful tool for inclusiveness.

These are instruments on which the work of the National Association of Families of People with Intellectual and/or Relational Disabilities (ANFFAS) has focused heavily in recent years, starting from the consideration of the fact that the intellectual and/ or relational disability is present preponderantly, representing the most widespread form of disability. For the purposes of learning opportunities, we recall that the ANFFAS made a project, which involved the creation of an interactive and implementable tool to provide concrete technological support to the learning of people with intellectual and/or relational disabilities. The platform was created with the aim of allowing operators, teachers, and families to develop, use, and share interactive exercises to be used in various learning contexts, concerning autonomy, school education, vocational training, and recreational act [40].

More generally, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) [41] in learning contexts promotes the motivation, participation, and interaction of students with intellectual disabilities; it also helps to maintain attention and promotes the development of self-esteem. In fact, they are easier to use than traditional tools, also because of the possibility of repetition. In schools, around 80% of the disabilities present are of an intellectual and/or relational type: if we consider the delays in the social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, these support tools for training activities appear particularly welcome and useful. In fact, it is necessary to realize the

objective of the general improvement of the quality of their life project and guarantee their right to participate, enhancing and implementing the learning, enabling the inclusive opportunities that can be achieved at school.
