Society, the environment, products and services can be considered as accessible when the needs of different user groups have been taken broadly into account during their development process. Accessibility supports participation and involvement across different areas of everyday life. The right to linguistic equality, which is documented in the constitution of Finland, is a significant part of establishing participation.

The purpose of the thesis was to examine the development of social services for groups with special needs. The main question was: What kind of operational models and working methods would lead to good results, that serve user groups broadly and increase their social participation? The topic was studied through two different development tasks in order to examine it from different viewpoints and in different scales. Participatory methods were used in both projects in order to broaden the knowledge base and produce customer oriented service.

Johanna Eskelinen’s development task took place at Vantaa Deaf Club. The project aimed at a carefully implemented chain of communication over the linguistic and cultural border between the majority and a linguistic minority. The purpose was to create a communication environment, where it would be possible to cross the language border from both directions and to examine the structure of public relations and the possibilities of the Deaf to receive information in their native language. The aim was to examine and bring forward the benefit from the multi-channel and interactive exchange of information and its impact on increasing participation. The project was carried through activity analysis. The active part consisted of a lecture by a specialist, a group interview, writing of an article for a professional magazine, which was interpreted to sign language. Representatives of the Deaf community as well as a specialist from the health care system took part in the project. A model for interactive communication was developed during the project.

Sari Kivimäki’s development task was put into practice for the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (FAIDD). The task was to examine drawings of signs as a tool for supporting learning of signs as part of a supportive communication system. The development task was carried out as research-based design. Sign language interpreters and interpreters for people with speech disabilities and native signers took part in the project as specialists. Along the process, the role of drawings of signs in learning and teaching signed communication was defined, the broadness of the user groups were pointed out and, through the survey, the features of clear drawings of signs were determined. As a product of the process a set of 33 drawings were drawn and will be published in an open-access Papunet online database of FAIDD.

Social participation can be enhanced by altering environment. Instead of modifying single phenomenon or service, the development of services should be considered in an all-round manner and enable the participation and the representation of the interests of all groups from the beginning. Practical methods for co-operation and co-creation can be found for example from the field of service design. By examining the possible user groups of products or social services widely and by involving them in the development processes, the use of knowledge, skills and resources in the process can be focused on ensuring socially sustainable development.