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This South Sudan Protection Analysis Update places a thematic focus on protection risks facing persons with disabilities and older persons.

The most recent census reported that 5% of the population in South Sudan, or approximately 424,000 people, were living with a disability. However, the current number is likely to be much higher, possibly reaching 1.2 million people, or 16% of the population, according to the global estimate. Data in South Sudan also suggests a rapid increase in the number of older persons each year, mounting to 5.1% of total population with this percentage expected to continue to steadily increase.

People with disabilities and older people in South Sudan are often excluded and face multiple challenges in accessing essential services and protection. Decades of civil war have increased the number of older people and persons with disabilities who are being left behind as they are unable to flee due to chronic health conditions and mobility impairments. People who have managed to flee the violence are often faced with barriers accessing protection and health services. Therefore, older people with and without disabilities in South Sudan face higher risks and greater challenges in getting the necessary humanitarian assistance.

Two short talks concerning the centering of assistive technology projects on persons with disabilities and organisation of persons with disabilities (OPD/DPO). The talks are presented by a representative from IDA in India and one from IDA in Uganda. The talks are introduced by Maryam Bandudka of GDI hub. Story telling, the CPRD, communities of practice and advocacy are mentionned

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

A short talk given in the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

The story of the progress in the development and of issues with the roll out of Earswitch is briefly outlined. The particular advantages for people with communication difficulties owing to cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease and locked in syndrome and also the advantages for the general population are highlighted.  Work is being carried out on eye tracking. Difficulties in transitioning to market are discussed.

A short talk in the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference held by GDI hub on 13 Sep 2023

Work required to shape markets for assistive technology for young children is explored including assessing numbers and types of disability, regulations, and community leaders involvement

This WHO-UNICEF Global Report is a call for action to intentionally include children and young people with developmental disabilities in renewed global and country level efforts to enable transformations towards the SDGs.  It proposes priority actions to accelerate individual-, family-, community-, and society-level changes to achieve inclusion and health equity. The report makes the case for greater investment and accountability to build inclusive and responsive multisectoral care systems for children and young people with developmental disabilities. Using findings from research and practice and guided by the tenets of international human rights conventions, the report provides key insights into the state of knowledge, policy, programming, and public monitoring in respect of developmental disabilities.

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

A short talk highlighting Inclusive Innovation at Google.

Topics highlighted in the approach taken are: AI; "nothing about us without us"; get started on one thing; this is a process.

Products briefly outlined are: automated captions; real time captions (Google Meet) in 14 languages; interlanguage translation (14 languages); on the phone, live transcribe (80 languages); the ability of the phone to inform deaf people of sounds e.g. laughter, appliances going off; and phone live captioning. 

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Outcomes of the first 5 years of the AT2030 project are summarised including: 15 AT country capacity surveys; 11 new assistive technologies; 31 AT ventures brought to sustainability and 70 journal papers. Funding thus far and for the future is also discussed.

Work to supply hearing aids to those with hearing loss in the global south, particularly in South Africa is outlined. Areas highlighted include: work with suppliers; work to ignite innovation and provide products at scale; work with UNICEF and the procurement catalogue; work with HEARX to provide screening and aid fine tuning via a phone app to enable community health AT service.

Questions from the audience highlight issues surrounding acquiring AT in the emergency/humanitarian setting  

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023

A short talk concerning the disability justice framework. The framework was co-created by a coalition of disabled people, mainly of colour and from the LGBT community in 2005-2006.

Topics discussed include: disability rights, institutions, ableism and the wider meaning of disability justice.  

Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Challenges in the development and bringing to market of functional, affordable, high quality AT devices are outlined. The development of the manual standing wheelchair and the lessons learnt in taking it from prototype to market (using the GRID model) are introduced. The challenges of affordability and of awareness of AT including by professionals is highlighted. The work of the National Centre for Assistive Health Technologies (NCAHT at AIIMS, New Delhi) including experience zones of architectural barriers where people can try wheelchars on different surfaces and realise that disability is imposed by the environment is briefly described. Wheelchair skills training and community outings are part of the centre. Other topics mentioned include: the need to normalise disability; the need for collaborations; funders; scalability; fragmented markets and the need to access global markets