Our Rehacare 2026 journey has come to an end, and as we reflect on the past week, we feel very proud of how we’ve represented our brand and our company at the trade fair.
Seeing a lot of new end users and businesses get introduced to our brand always brings us joy, just as much as seeing the partners we already know and work with. Rehacare gives us a great opportunity to connect with people from all over the world, showcase our products and developments, and most importantly, listen to the people who use and work with assistive technology.
In this article, you can read about our experiences, the feedback we received, and some of the insights we gathered during this year’s trade fair.
Did we achieve our goal?
As mentioned in a previous article, where we announced that we would be participating in this year’s Rehacare alongside DATEurope, our goal was to showcase our products and new developments to all visitors, have meaningful conversations, meet our global partners, and share our progress.
We can now say that this has been a success.
During the trade fair, we met a lot of new organizations who had not heard of our brand before, while also reconnecting with many of our existing partners and contacts. We are now working on following up with all the connections we made, and we can already say that there might be new prototypes and new layouts coming soon.
One of the most rewarding parts of Rehacare was speaking directly with people who already use Alt. & Clevy products at home, at school, or in their daily lives. Because our goal has always been to develop our products with direct input from the people who will actually use them, it was incredibly valuable to hear experiences from such a wide range of users from children with developmental needs to individuals with limited mobility or visual impairments. Hearing their stories, experiences, and feedback was a powerful reminder of who we are designing for and why their voices need to remain at the heart of what we do.
But besides the connections, Rehacare also gave us a lot of valuable insights into how our products are being perceived and used. Here are some of the things that stood out to us.
New insights
We spoke to a lot of assistive technology experts and end users throughout the trade fair, and gathered some insightful feedback.
1. Different preferences among low vision users
We often focus a lot on users who have a certain motor impairment, but this time we also received a lot of feedback from low vision users about our Clevy Contrast Keyboard layout.
There were many low vision users who said that the layout composition with the two different keycaps works perfectly for them. Others shared that they preferred either yellow keycaps or fully black keycaps.
Although we do have several layouts in the other two designs, our standard design remains the one that emphasizes the letters on the keyboard. With a group of impairments that is so varied, and with so many different types of low vision, it is impossible for us to come up with one solution that works for all low vision users.
Next to our Clevy Contrast Keyboard, we have the normal sized Alt ClearKeys Keyboard. Hereby we simply provide two potential solutions for someone if a regular keyboard design is not a proper fit for them. However, it is definitely something that first needs to be tested by the user to determine whether it actually works for them.
The feedback we received at Rehacare reminded us once again how important it is to listen to individual users and their specific needs.
2. Enthusiastic feedback about the Hilfsmittelnummer
This is the first year we’re standing at the trade fair with a Hilfsmittelnummer that works for all our assistive Clevy products. Many users, and mostly occupational therapists, shared their enthusiasm about this news, as it makes their process of referring our products to clients much easier.
Through their health insurance, the keyboard could be reimbursed in Germany. Some people didn’t even know this process existed in Germany, so we were delighted to explain to them how it roughly works.
We would like to know more about this process ourselves, so we came into contact with many German occupational therapists to learn more about all the steps. This will hopefully allow us to help more people who want to buy our products through this process.
A German occupational therapist walked past our stand and admired the Clevy Keyboard with Keyguard. When she noticed the Hilfsmittelnummer, her reaction said it all: “Ohhh, mit Hilfsmittelnummer? Das ist ja geil!” — “Ohhh, with a medical-aid number? That’s really great!”
That spontaneous response reflected what we heard throughout the fair: for therapists and users in Germany, a Hilfsmittelnummer can make a real difference.
It was great to see how much interest there was in the possibilities that the Hilfsmittelnummer provides.
3. German Dyscover German was a hit
Besides the Hilfsmittelnummer, we also introduced the German Dyscover for the first time at Rehacare.
Not many people know that our Dyscover exists, let alone that we have a German version of the this dyslexia tool, so we were very happy to introduce it to our booth visitors.
One thing that came up during the conversations was that people would like to have software that allows them to get familiar with the Dyscover and do exercises with their students. That is definitely something we’re considering for the future.
The interest we received during Rehacare has given us plenty to think about when it comes to further developing the Dyscover and how people can use it in practice.
4. The new assistive features of the Clevy Keyboard 3 could be more clear
One thing is certain: many people do not know that we’ve included a lot of new features in the latest version of the Clevy Keyboard.
We have tried to showcase all the new features, but most people are still unaware of all the extra tools, such as input detection, switching to the ABCDE layout, sticky keys, and key repeat with the switch on the backside.
We’re definitely working on making these features clearer for every user. One possibility we’re considering is a quickstart guide that users can go through once they receive the product.
It was valuable for us to discover that while these features are there, we can do more to make sure users actually know about them and understand how to use them.
5. Clevy Switch Blockers are a hit among occupational therapists
Occupational therapists who often work with children who get easily intimidated by a regular keyboard still sometimes struggle with kids accidentally pressing certain keys that they’re not supposed to.
Although our layout has already been simplified, their clients can still accidentally press keys such as the WIN key, Escape or Delete.
To provide a solution to this problem, we have created a rather new add-on that we tested out during the trade fair: the Clevy Switch Blockers.
If you remove a keycap and press the Switch Blocker into the keyguard, it is impossible for children to press the key on the keyboard. Right now, this add-on is still in the early stages of development, but it seems to be a big hit with many occupational therapists.
Some occupational therapists shared that they have previously tried taping away certain keys or even filling in keycaps so that the children do not recognize the button. Hearing this feedback has definitely motivated us to iterate further on this add-on.
Connecting with resellers
One of our favourite parts of the trade fair is meeting with new and existing resellers and partners that we’re connected with.
With such an international network, we do not get many opportunities to meet in person, and Rehacare is the perfect hub for that. It was great to catch up, exchange ideas, talk about developments, and simply spend some time together outside of our usual online meetings.
We’re very grateful for all the partners and resellers who took the time to visit us at our booth. Here are some pictures we’ve taken with our resellers from all over the world:
A special shout out to Eglas, Talktools, Rehavista, to-Signify, Adapt4you, Topland & Integratools who we took a picture with!
What’s Next?
As we’ve gathered all these new insights, we continue improving our products and the way we communicate our products with end users.
Rehacare has once again shown us how valuable it is to speak directly with the people who use our products, work with them, recommend them, and help others find the right assistive technology.
We’re taking all the feedback, conversations and new connections with us as we continue developing our products and exploring new ideas.
