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This research focuses on disability, using human-centred design methods to better understand how refugees and Kenyans with visual and hearing impairments in Nairobi use mobile technology and potential opportunities that it could provide.

The target populations for the project were urban refugees and host communities with visual or hearing impairments in Nairobi, Kenya. 

This report is divided into four main sections, following an introduction, the second section focuses on insights learned from the hearing impaired, the third on the visually impaired and the fourth highlighting issues that were cross-cutting insights across both groups. Sections two and three include insights related to mobile, health and financial services. The fourth section includes insights related to humanitarian and disability support services

The CEO of Microsoft talks about the cultural embedding of accessibility in the company. Topics covered include: building accessibility into technology products; remote working and schooling (particularly in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic); skilling and jobs for people with disabilities; the growth of captioning; the US Americans with Disability Act (ADA); intersectionality; inclusivity; and the future of AI products.

In April 2020, Light for the World teamed up with NGO TRAC FM to find out how COVID-19 has affected people with disabilities in Uganda. Through free SMS, basic mobile phone technology and radio talk shows, TRAC FM reaches out to the most remote and excluded people – including people with disabilities. It enables the most marginalised to debate about policies that concern them directly.

From 22nd of April to 19th of May 2020, they worked with TRAC FM to air four polls on Let’s Talk, a specially created radio show. Broadcast on five local stations across the country, the show asked listeners how they were faring under Uganda’s lockdown. An average of just under 13,000 people responded to each poll question, giving rise to reflections captured in this report that should have wider resonance beyond Uganda.

Findings presented include:

• Concerns during the COVID-19 lockdown
• Knowledge and awareness on coronavirus
• Effect of the lockdown on mental health
• Effect of the lockdown on livelihoods 

This collection and review of evidence aims to illustrate how the COVID-19 crisis triggers disproportionate risks and barriers for men, women, boys and girls with disabilities living in humanitarian settings. It highlights recommendations for humanitarian actors, to enhance inclusive action, aligned with existing guidance and learnings on disability inclusion. It is based on evidence, including testimonies, collected by HI programs in 19 countries of intervention. Special efforts were made to reflect the voices of persons with different types of disabilities, genders and ages, residing in different geographical areas and living circumstances, including refugee and internally displaced persons’ settlements and host communities.

Evidence has been collected through primary data collection among HI teams and partners, working in countries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in April/May 2020. Data was extracted from assessments conducted by HI and partners in Bangladesh, Egypt, Haïti, Indonesia, Philippines, Jordan, Lebanon, Somaliland and Togo. Testimonies from affected communities, staff and partners were collected in Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Somaliland, South Sudan, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda and Yemen.

This short paper provides an overview of disability inclusion considerations for adaptations to Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 2 social protection programme during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes considerations for changing the payment mechanism from cash payments to mobile money as well as the necessary communications and monitoring of beneficiary feedback and safeguarding during the pandemic. The attached annex provides detailed considerations of the benefits, risks and mitigations for specific programme adaptations.

Living in an informal settlement with a visual impairment can be very challenging resulting in social exclusion. Mobile phones have been shown to be hugely beneficial to people with sight loss in formal and high-income settings. However, little is known about whether these results hold true for people with visual impairment (VIPs) in informal settlements. Findings of a case study of mobile technology use by VIPs in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi are presented. The study used contextual interviews, ethnographic observations and a co-design workshop to explore how VIPs use mobile phones in their daily lives, and how this use influences the social infrastructure of VIPs. Findings suggest that mobile technology supports and shapes the creation of social infrastructure. However, this is only made possible through the existing support networks of the VIPs, which are mediated through four types of interaction: direct, supported, dependent and restricted

Paper presented at CHI 2020, April 25–30, 2020, Honolulu, HI, USA

Following sections on recognising issues of access, addressing the digital divide and considerations for accessibility, tips are given on supporting virtual meeting accessibility.

The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an inquiry to understand the experiences of disabled defendants and accused people in the criminal justice system. They looked at:

• whether their needs are properly identified
• the types of adjustments being made to accomodate their needs, and
• whether they can fully participate in court processes and understand the charges they face.

Based on their findings, recommendations are made to UK Governments.

The use of video hearings was rapidly expanded in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In April 2020, interim findings from this inquiry were released to help mitigate the risks that this technology poses to disabled people in the criminal justice system.

The COVID pandemic continues to escalate across the world, this document has been prepared to;

• Provide some top-line advocacy messages that can be used for advocacy and communications,
• Give a few questions example that you can ask yourself/or other stakeholders to check how people with disabilities are being included,
• Provide key resources for further reading. We recognise the importance of safe, evidence-based messages, and stand by the advice of the World Health Organisation on health-related issues, of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on international coordination, and of the International Disability Alliance on inclusion of people with disabilities in the COVID-19 response.