Application of Computer-based systems to Training in Information Technology (ACT-IT, a project by a consortium of partners in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic, is part of the TIDE program, an initiative of the European Community (EC) to make information technology more accessible to disabled and elderly people. This paper outlines the work of the ACT-IT project and highlights certain aspects of it. The project aims to help intellectually impaired or elderly people use information technology at work and in everyday situations. The objective has been to facilitate the learning of those skills which are needed in order to interact effectively with information technology. The project has created a prototype multimedia learning environment which takes into account the needs of intellectually impaired people and assists potential courseware authors in creating multimedia courses for such users. A model of intellectual impairment has been produced which analyzes the needs of the target learner-users. Also a taxonomy of information technology situations and a model of access needs are provided which analyze those skills needed to cope with information technology in the variety of situations that arise in everyday life and employment. Two prototype pieces of courseware have been produced using the multimedia courseware production environment. The first deals with the task of obtaining cash from an automated teller machine. In the second, the learner-user is taught how to find a book in the library using a computer-based catalog. Thirteen teaching utilities were identified and used in the ACT-IT PROJECT: attention-grabber; personal tutor; application context; peer group modeling; simulation; action replay; notebook; assessment; reward; analog task map; choice; tea break; and personal assistant. (MAS)