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Database of disability and inclusion information resources
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Social protection for disability in Kenya and Uganda - synthesis report

Development Initiatives
January 2022

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In 2021, Development Initiatives analysed how existing social protection programmes benefit persons with disabilities in Uganda and Kenya and associated challenges. The two country reports synthesised in this report interrogate policy frameworks, existing social protection schemes and institutional setups, and track public investment towards disability-specific and mainstream social protection programmes. 

Accessible Sanitation in the Workplace – Important Considerations for Disability-Inclusive Employment in Nigeria and Bangladesh

Stephen Thompson
Rasak Adekoya
Utpal Mallick
Omojo Adaji
Abdur Rakib
Mark Carew
January 2022

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This paper explores the relationship between accessible sanitation and disability-inclusive employment in Bangladesh and Nigeria. Both countries have sanitation and hygiene challenges as well as disability-inclusive employment challenges, but the existing evidence on the intersection of these issues that is focused on Nigeria and Bangladesh is extremely limited. Building on the literature where this complex issue is addressed, this paper presents the findings of a qualitative pilot study undertaken in Nigeria and Bangladesh. It focuses on the need for toilets at work that are easy for people with disabilities to use in poor countries. These are sometimes called accessible toilets. Accessible sanitation is not regarded as a challenge that must be addressed by people with disabilities themselves, but as a challenge that must be addressed by many people working together – including governments, employers, and the community.

Intersectionality Resource Guide and Toolkit. An intersectional approach to leave no one behind

UN WOMEN
UN PRPD
2022

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The Resource Guide and Toolkit has been developed to help both organizations and individual practitioners and experts to address intersectionality in policies and in programmes. It may be used by individuals or teams to assess their own knowledge, attitudes, and practice, at a programme level as a supplement to existing design, adaptation, and assessment processes or at policy level to better understand and address the different and intersecting effects of policy on marginalised persons.

This Resource Guide and Toolkit emerged from an identified need to use an intersectional approach that included people with disabilities in all their diversity in the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, programmes, advocacy and inter-governmental processes. However, the authors and collaborators realised that an effective intersectionality resource needed to go beyond a focus on specific intersecting identities, such as disability and gender, as this would still exclude those who are most marginalised

Assistive Technology in urban low-income communities in Sierra Leone & Indonesia: Rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) survey results

CAREW, Mark
WALKER, Julian
OSSUL-VERMEHREN, Ignacia
BARTLETT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
January 2022

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It is estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that 15% of the world's population has a disability and one billion people need one or more Assistive Products (AP) but as little as one in ten have access to the device they need. There is however very little data to define this need for AP in low-resource settings. 

To contribute to the knowledge gap, the findings from the surveys presented in this report give a unique insight into disability prevalence and access to AT in five urban low-income communities in Sierra Leone and Indonesia, where a total of 4,256 individuals were surveyed using the rATA tool.

The rATA tool is designed for the rapid evaluation of the need, use, supply and impact of AT, Rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) is a new survey from WHO. A version modified by the Development Planning Unit-University College London (DPUUCL) was conducted in September 2019 for the research project “AT2030 community led solutions”, as part of the AT2030 programme led by Global Disability Innovation Hub.

Participatory planning process to design an inclusive education project, Kaduna, Nigeria

Sightsavers
January 2022

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The aim of the project was to plan an education project in Kaduna State which would demonstrate innovative, scalable approaches for: a) promoting inclusive education in primary
schools for children with disabilities; and b) incorporating disability inclusion perspectives in initial teacher training.

The project needed to adhere to Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme
requirements, specifically regarding engagement with Organisations of Persons with
Disabilities (OPDs), ensuring “meaningful, accessible and inclusive consultation process with
partners (meaning OPDs) in the development of project proposals” which should detail the
process to identify and select partners and their role during implementation.

The objective of the nine-month planning phase project was to execute the project in
accordance with DID requirements and the concept note to achieve the following outcomes:

1. Assessment of educational provision for primary-aged children with disabilities in
selected schools in Kaduna State.

2. Assessment of disability inclusiveness of teacher training in two colleges of education
in Kaduna State.

3. Identification of innovative and scalable strategies for promoting inclusive
education/teacher training. The output under this outcome was the production of a
project proposal for an inclusive education project in Nigeria.

4. Evaluation of a disability-inclusive process for planning an innovative education project.
The output under this outcome was the production of a learning paper.

Accessibility audits and improvement of COVID-19 treatment centres in Nigeria

Sightsavers
January 2022

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A learning review was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021 to assess the implementation process and contribute to the evidence of what does and does not work in undertaking accessibility audits in emergency response situations, such as COVID-19, deploying Sightsavers’ accessibility audit methodology and toolkit under the Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme, Inclusive Futures.

Study on the evolution of the Children and Armed Conflict mandate 1996-2021

GAMBA, Virginia
January 2022

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This is the first study that comprehensively analyses the challenges, opportunities, and successes in delivering the United Nations children and armed conflict mandate since its inception in 1996. The study presents a short evolution of a unique United Nations instrument that was initially mandated by the General Assembly and subsequently enhanced through 13 Security Council resolutions. Understanding the way in which the mandate grew and how it has been implemented over the years will hopefully assist Member States and the public at large to renew their commitment to the protection of children in armed conflict and the prevention of grave violations. This study explores three time periods in the delivery of the mandate. Moreover, the study explores, among other issues, the background on the establishment of the mandate, its evolution over the past 25 years and the reflections generated by this experience, including through an analysis of the trends of grave violations against children, the modalities in monitoring and reporting and in pursuing engagement with listed and non-listed parties, the efforts made in prevention and the importance of partnerships. When possible, the study also brings to life the experiences of child survivors and child protection experts on the ground, who, after all, are the backbone of the mandate. Lastly, the study attempts to highlight some collective recommendations in the form of a way forward to illuminate the next 25 years in the pursuit of better protection of children in situations of armed conflict worldwide

Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products: a systematic review of global population-based research

DANEMAYER, Jamie
BOGGS, Dorothy
DELGADO RAMOS, Vinicius
SMITH, Emma M
KULAR, Ariana
BHOT, William
RAMOS-BARAJAS, Felipe
POLACK, Sarah
HOLLOWAY, Catherine
January 2022

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Assistive technology (AT) includes assistive products (APs) and related services that can improve health and well-being, enable increased independence and foster participation for people with functional difficulties, including older adults and people with impairments or chronic health conditions. This paper uses the umbrella term ‘functional difficulty’ (FD) to refer to all of these groups. This systematic review was undertaken to identify studies presenting population-based estimates of need and coverage for five APs (hearing aids, limb prostheses, wheelchairs, glasses and personal digital assistants) grouped by four functional domains (hearing, mobility, vision and cognition).

 

BMJ Glob Health. 2022; 7(1): e007662

doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007662

Translating disability-inclusive WASH policies into practice: lessons from Cambodia and Bangladesh: Study details and reports

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE (LSHTM)
WILBUR, Jane
2022

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This is a collaborative study between the LSHTM and WaterAid, funded by the Australian Government’s Water for Women Fund. It aims to improve disability-inclusive WASH policymaking in low and middle-income countries through policy and practice guidance for governments wishing to mainstream disability-inclusive WASH at scale. Using Cambodia and Bangladesh as case studies, we answered these research questions:

  • How do Cambodia and Bangladesh’s national WASH policy and guidance incorporate disability?
  • To what extent do sub-national government officials and service providers implement these commitments to disability inclusion?
  • How does this implementation impact the WASH experiences of people with disabilities and their caregivers?

Resources available

This poster gives an overview of the study.

We conducted a policy analysis of Cambodia and Bangladesh’s WASH policies and guidance documents to explore the inclusion of disability. We published a journal article and an accessible briefing note that summarised the article.

We carried out qualitative research in Cambodia and Bangladesh that explored the implementation of commitments to disability inclusion in national policies at the sub-national level. This journal article captures our research in Cambodia, which is summarised in this briefing note. We worked with Epic Arts (an inclusive arts organisation based in Cambodia that uses art to empower and bring people with disabilities together) to develop a performance and two short films about the findings related to 'independence' and 'caregivers'. 

We wrote a research report capturing findings from Bangladesh, which is supplemented by this poster.      

We produced the Disability-Inclusive WASH Checklist for government officials and service providers to support the meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities and caregivers in national policies, guidance documents, and interventions. The Disability-Inclusive WASH Checklist is based on our study findings and co-developed recommendations. Three films introduce the checklist, give an overview of it and show how to complete it. Each film has transcripts (film 1, film 2, film 3).    

Finally, we wrote a Learning Brief, Foundations of success: driving change through successful research collaborations. This brief documents the process the Principal Investigator followed to support and mentor the research team in Cambodia remotely. The Brief captures the strengths and limitations of approaches and learning gained. It includes recommendations for organisations that remotely support non-academics to conduct ethical research in low-and middle-income countries.

Disability interactions creating inclusive innovations

HOLLOWAY, Catherine
BARBARESCHI, Giulia
January 2022

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Disability interactions (DIX) is a new approach to combining cross-disciplinary methods and theories from Human Computer Interaction (HCI), disability studies, assistive technology, and social development to co-create new technologies, experiences, and ways of working with disabled people. DIX focuses on the interactions people have with their technologies and the interactions which result because of technology use. A central theme of the approach is to tackle complex issues where disability problems are part of a system that does not have a simple solution. Therefore, DIX pushes researchers and practitioners to take a challenge-based approach, which enables both applied and basic research to happen alongside one another. DIX complements other frameworks and approaches that have been developed within HCI research and beyond. Traditional accessibility approaches are likely to focus on specific aspects of technology design and use without considering how features of large-scale assistive technology systems might influence the experiences of people with disabilities. DIX aims to embrace complexity from the start, to better translate the work of accessibility and assistive technology research into the real world. DIX also has a stronger focus on user-centered and participatory approaches across the whole value chain of technology, ensuring we design with the full system of technology in mind (from conceptualization and development to large-scale distribution and access). DIX also helps to acknowledge that solutions and approaches are often non-binary and that technologies and interactions that deliver value to disabled people in one situation can become a hindrance in a different context. Therefore, it offers a more nuanced guide to designing within the disability space, which expands the more traditional problem-solving approaches to designing for accessibility. This book explores why such a novel approach is needed and gives case studies of applications highlighting how different areas of focus—from education to health to work to global development—can benefit from applying a DIX perspective. We conclude with some lessons learned and a look ahead to the next 60 years of DIX.

 

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-03759-7

 

STEP-UP: Enabling low-cost IMU sensors to predict the type of dementia during everyday stair climbing

HOLLOWAY, Catherine
BHOT, William
YONG, Keir Y. Y.
et al
January 2022

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Posterior Cortical Atrophy is a rare but significant form of dementia which affects people's visual ability before their memory. This is often misdiagnosed as an eyesight rather than brain sight problem. This paper aims to address the frequent, initial misdiagnosis of this disease as a vision problem through the use of an intelligent, cost-effective, wearable system, alongside diagnosis of the more typical Alzheimer's Disease.

Frontiers in Computer Science, 31 January 2022

 

ICT Directory for Inclusive Education

Humanity and Inclusion
et al
December 2021

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•The ICT Directory for Inclusive Education presents Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that have the potential to foster the education of children with disabilities in inclusive schools.
•The ICTs are presented according to the type of difficulties they can address. These difficulties, which are defined in the Washington Group questionnaire, can affect a student’s participation in the classroom:
-Visual impairment
-Hearing impairment
-Communication difficulties
-Difficulty remembering/concentrating/learning
-Difficulty moving upper limbs
 

Social protection for disability inclusion in Uganda

Development Initiatives
December 2021

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Investing in disability-inclusive social protection programmes is critical for addressing the diverse risks, poverty, inequalities and exclusion that are often associated with disability. Moreover, persons with disabilities and their families live with lifelong consequences that are exacerbated by disability-related costs and barriers that exclude or limit their active participation in community engagements and socioeconomic spheres.

This paper provides an in-depth assessment of the progress that the Uganda government has made to establish disability-inclusive social protection programmes. The paper reviews the legal and policy frameworks and the institutional arrangement for social protection in Uganda. It also assesses the investment in disability-specific and mainstream social protection programmes based on a budget tracking exercise covering the five financial years (FY) from 2016/17 to 2020/21.

Social protection for disability inclusion in Kenya

Development Initiatives
December 2021

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Disability and poverty are inextricably linked, with lifelong consequences for persons with disabilities and their families. Investing in a disability-inclusive social protection system, therefore, is critical for addressing the diverse risks, inequalities, disability-related costs and barriers that limit the participation of persons with disabilities in their communities.

This analysis provides an in-depth assessment of the progress that the national government of Kenya has made to establish disability-inclusive social protection programmes. It reviews the policy/legal framework and the institutional arrangements for social protection in Kenya. It also reviews public investments in disability-specific and mainstream social protection programmes based on a budget tracking exercise covering five financial years (FY) between 2017/18 and 2021/22.

Engagement with Organizations of Persons with Disabilities. Learning about meaningful engagement in public health emergencies, including COVID-19

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
December 2021

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This report was produced under a United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) project to support countries in designing and implementing disability-inclusive response and recovery planning for COVID-19. Throughout this project, UNICEF documented examples of good practice and learnings from partnerships with organizations of people with disabilities (OPDs) in public health emergencies, including COVID-19. The objectives of this initiative were to gain a better understanding of the factors that facilitate effective partnerships between humanitarian actors and local, regional, and national OPDs, and the challenges to be addressed.

This report presents the findings from a ‘deep dive’ undertaken by UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office to consider the experiences in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and the Pacific. The target audience for this report includes OPDs and humanitarian actors at global, regional, and country levels.

Applying market shaping approaches to increase access to assistive technology in low- and middle-income countries

SAVAGE, Margaret
ALBALA, Sarah
SEGHERS, Frederic
KATTEL, Rainer
LIAO, Cynthia
CHAUDRON, Mathilde
AFDHILA, Novia
December 2021

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Development outcomes are inextricably linked to the health of the marketplace that delivers products and services to people in low- and middle- income countries (LMIC). Shortcomings in the market for assistive technology (AT) contribute to low access in LMIC. Market shaping is aimed at improving a market’s specific outcomes, such as access to high quality, affordable AT, by targeting the root causes of these shortcomings. The paper summarizes the findings of a market and sector analysis that was conducted under the UK aid funded AT2030 programme and aims to discuss how market shaping can help more people gain access to the AT that they need and what are the best mechanisms to unlock markets and commercial opportunity in LMICs.

 

Assistive Technology 
The Official Journal of RESNA
Volume 33, 2021 - Issue sup1: Companion Papers to the Global Report on Assistive Technology

https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2021.1991050

A review of innovation strategies and processes to improve access to AT: Looking ahead to open innovation ecosystems

HOLLOWAY, Catherine
MORGADO RAMIREZ, Dafne Zuleima
BHATNAGAR, Tigmansu
OLDFREY, Ben
et al
December 2021

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It is essential to understand the strategies and processes which are deployed currently across the Assistive Technology (AT) space toward measuring innovation. The main aim of this paper is to identify functional innovation strategies and processes which are being or can be deployed in the AT space to increase access to AT globally.

 


Assistive Technology 
The Official Journal of RESNA
Volume 33, 2021 - Issue sup1: Companion Papers to the Global Report on Assistive Technology
 

https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2021.1970653

Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review

DANEMAYER, Jamie
BOGGS, Dorothy
SMITH, Emma
DELGADO RAMOS, Vinicius
BATISTELLA, Linamara R
HOLLOWAY, Catherine
POLACK, Sarah
December 2021

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The supply of and market demand for assistive products (APs) are complex and influenced by diverse stakeholders. The methods used to collect AP population-level market data are similarly varied. In this paper, we review current population-level AP supply and demand estimation methods for five priority APs and provide recommendations for improving national and global AP market evaluation.

Abstracts resulting from a systematic search were double-screened. Extracted data include WHO world region, publication year, age-groups, AP domain(s), study method, and individual assessment approach.

 

Assistive Technology 
The Official Journal of RESNA
Volume 33, 2021 - Issue sup1: Companion Papers to the Global Report on Assistive Technology

https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2021.1957039

Uganda's disability data landscape and the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities

Development Initiatives
November 2021

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This report looks at the landscape of data on disability in Uganda – summarising what data on persons with disabilities is available, who produces and uses it, and how – as well as what this means for the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities.

 

For persons with disabilities to benefit from and contribute to society and the economy there needs to be effective policies, programmes and services that support their inclusion, particularly in employment. Reliable information and data on persons with disabilities, known as ‘disability data’, is essential to planning and for decision-making. When it is of high quality, accessible and used effectively, disability data can help organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), civil society, government and businesses better understand and prioritise interventions that are vital for supporting persons with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion.

 

OPDs, civil society and the government have an important role to play in strengthening the landscape of disability data. Developed as part of Development Initiatives’ work on data to support disability inclusion, in consultation with Uganda’s disability rights movement, this report presents an analysis of Uganda’s landscape of disability data. It highlights important data sources, challenges and recommendations, providing a valuable evidence base to inform efforts aimed at strengthening the enabling environment for disability inclusion.

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