Sofie Sergeant (Disability Studies in Nederland) and René Krewinkel developed an electronic application (app) named Ebb (https://ebb.works).

Ebb can be found for free in the App Store and in Google Play.

Ebb contains a database with photos and with drawings and can be enriched with the participant’s own drawings and with photos. Ebb stimulates people to make their own portfolio to catalyse reflection on for example ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What do I find important in life and work?’. The app creates a failure-free environment (with images) in which people feel safe (at home, in their own time, on their own device, by themselves) and facilitates belonging through the opportunity to share with others in divers situations.

Inspired by the work of Wang and Burris (1997) on PhotoVoice, we agree that the lesson a picture tells us is not in its physical structure, but rather in the way people interpret the image. We found that most people elaborated on their pictures with enthusiasm. Of course, some people with an intellectual disability were not able to speak about their drawings and photos. For people who are non-verbal, the app is also a methodology that understands images as a data source in their own right (Black & Warhurst, in Saunders & Tosey, 2015).

Ebb is based on PhotoVoice, photo-elicitation and graphic elicitation.

These visual methods enable participants

(1) to record and reflect on their lives,

(2) to advocate for changes in their lives and

(3) to participate in research (Overmars-Marx, Thomése & Moonen, 2016; Fullana, Pallisera & Vilà, 2014; Sergeant & Verreyt, 2016).