The first CTEC Centre was established in 1997 in Crowthorne, Berkshire by a sister charity of the Ian Karten Charitable Trust. At the same time the Trust embarked on an ambitious programme for the rapid establishment of a sizeable “family” of CTEC Centres. In order to achieve this the policy of the Trust is to find suitable charities which may share its enthusiasm for the use of assistive computer technology to improve the quality of life and the independence of people with disabilities. The Trust then offers to provide generous funding for all the equipment, software, assistive devices, and furniture for the Centre, and in some cases a contribution to other related costs, in return for an undertaking by the charity to establish and operate the Centre on a basis acceptable to the Trust.

A typical centre, showing workstations and an interactive whiteboard

To date 85 CTEC Centres had been or were in the process of being established, 74 in the U.K., 10 in Israel and 1 in Eire.

There are many differences between the CTEC Centres, and between the organisations which operate them. The latter include Universities and Colleges of Further Education, the remainder being charities, mostly with Day Centres and Centres for older people. The size of the CTEC Centres varies from 10 to 30 trainee stations. Some specialise in a particular disability, others cover a range of disabilities. Some Centres are strongly focused on vocational training, while others concentrate on providing training in communication and life skills for people with cognitive disabilities. The only limiting factor is people’s imagination!