Publications

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Local Productions
Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings

Ben Oldfrey, Cathy Holloway, Julian Walker, Steven McCormack, Bernadette Deere, Laurence Kenney, Robert Ssekitoleko, Helen Ackers & Mark Miodownik

This paper focuses on the local repair of assistive products in low resource environments. We review the existing literature on the repair of assistive products in low resource settings, and briefly discuss the “Right to Repair” movement.

Disability and Rehabilitation; 2023

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Abstract

Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the practices of repair that exist for users of mobility assistive products in low resource settings, as well as the psychosocial impact that the repair, or non-repair, of these devices has on users’ lives.

Materials and Methods

This article collates data on repair practices and the responses from participants on the topic of repair from studies conducted by the authors across four different low resource settings in Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Indonesia. This data was then analyzed to identify the common themes found across geographies.

Results

Three major models of repair practice emerged from the data: “Individual or Informal Repair in the Community”; “Local Initiatives”; and “Specialist AT Workshop Repair”. Additionally, the wider impact on the participants’ lives of “Problems & Concerns with Repair”; “Experiences of Breakages & Frequencies of Repair” and the “Impact of Broken Devices” are explored.

Conclusions

The results of this analysis demonstrate the paramount importance of community-based repair of devices, and how despite this importance, repair is often overlooked in the planning and design of assistive products and services. There is a need to further incorporate and support these informal contributions as part of the formal provision systems of assistive device.

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Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings

Ben Oldfrey, Cathy Holloway, Julian Walker, Steven McCormack, Bernadette Deere, Laurence Kenney, Robert Ssekitoleko, Helen Ackers & Mark Miodownik (2023) Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2023.2236142

Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings

Image of an empty street in Korea, with vibrant shop signs

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Assistive technology in Korea: Findings from the 2017 National Disability Survey

Jamie Danemayer & Myung-Joon Lim

Korea is a rapidly ageing country, with its population over 65 years old increasing from 5% in 1990 to 17% in 2021. Comparatively, the global population over 65 has increased from 6% in 1990 to 9% in 2019 ]. As populations age and functional difficulties become more prevalent, the importance of assistive technology (AT) provision becomes more pronounced. Disparities in access to AT within a population can indicate inequities in healthy aging trajectories that will widen as the overall population ages, if clusters of limited access are not identified and addressed.

Taylor & Francis Online; 2023

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Abstract

Assistive technology in Korea: Findings from the 2017 National Disability Survey

Purpose

Explicitly monitoring the need, use and satisfaction of assistive product (AP) provision is essential to support population health and healthy longevity in ageing/aged countries, like Korea. We present findings from the 2017 Korea National Disability Survey (NDS) on AP access and compare them to international averages, introducing Korea’s data into the wider coherence of global AP research.

Materials and methods

Using data from Korea’s 2017 NDS, surveying 91,405 individuals, we extracted and calculated AP access indicators, including needing, having, using and being satisfied with 76 unique APs, by functional difficulty and product type. We compared satisfaction and unmet need between the National Health Insurance System (NHIS) and alternative provision services.

Results

Prosthetics and orthotics had high rates of under-met need, and lower satisfaction rates, from 46.9% to 80.9%. Mobility APs overall had higher rates of under-met need. There was either low (<5%) or no reported need for most digital/technical APs. Among main products, those provided through the NHIS had lower unmet need (26.4%) than through alternative providers (63.1%), though satisfaction rates were similar (p < .001).

Conclusions

The Korean survey findings align with global averages calculated in the Global Report on Assistive Technology. Low reported needs for certain APs may reflect low awareness about how these products could benefit users, emphasizing the importance of data collection at each stage of the AP provision process. Recommendations to expand access to APs are given for people, personnel, provision, products, and policy.

Implications for rehabilitation

  • Access to assistive products (APs) is an essential part of physical and occupational therapy services and rehabilitation. Monitoring population-level data on disability and AP access can inform policymakers about a key aspect of population health and healthy ageing, and demonstrate the need to expand access by including APs and associated services in primary/universal healthcare packages.
  • Stratifying findings about AP access by type of functional difficulty and further by specific device helps identify the populations for whom needs are not being met. These domain-level and device-level indicators inform efforts to support specific groups within the population of people with disabilities, which has implications for how rehabilitation services are provisioned, targeted and made more accessible.

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Assistive technology in Korea: Findings from the 2017 National Disability Survey

Jamie Danemayer & Myung-Joon Lim (2023)

Assistive technology in Korea: Findings from the 2017 National Disability Survey, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology,

DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2023.2225565

Assistive technology in Korea: Findings from the 2017 National Disability Survey

Type

Workshop

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Could AI Democratise Education? Socio-Technical Imaginaries of an EdTech Revolution

Sahan Bulathwela, María Pérez-Ortiz, Catherine Holloway, John Shawe-Taylor

This paper starts by synthesising how AI might change how we learn and teach, focusing specifically on the case of personalised learning companions, and then move to discuss some socio-technical features that will be crucial for avoiding the perils of these AI systems worldwide (and perhaps ensuring their success). This paper also discusses the potential of using AI together with free, participatory and democratic resources, such as Wikipedia, Open Educational Resources and open-source tools. We also emphasise the need for collectively designing human-centered, transparent, interactive and collaborative AI-based algorithms that empower and give complete agency to stakeholders, as well as support new emerging pedagogies.

Workshop on Machine Learning for the Developing World (ML4D) at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2021; 2021

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Abstract

Could AI Democratise Education? Socio-Technical Imaginaries of an EdTech Revolution

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education has been said to have the potential for building more personalised curricula, as well as democratising education worldwide and creating a Renaissance of new ways of teaching and learning. Millions of students are already starting to benefit from the use of these technologies, but millions more around the world are not. If this trend continues, the first delivery of AI in Education could be greater educational inequality, along with a global misallocation of educational resources motivated by the current technological determinism narrative. In this paper, we focus on speculating and posing questions around the future of AI in Education, with the aim of starting the pressing conversation that would set the right foundations for the new generation of education that is permeated by technology. This paper starts by synthesising how AI might change how we learn and teach, focusing specifically on the case of personalised learning companions, and then move to discuss some socio-technical features that will be crucial for avoiding the perils of these AI systems worldwide (and perhaps ensuring their success). This paper also discusses the potential of using AI together with free, participatory and democratic resources, such as Wikipedia, Open Educational Resources and open-source tools. We also emphasise the need for collectively designing human-centered, transparent, interactive and collaborative AI-based algorithms that empower and give complete agency to stakeholders, as well as support new emerging pedagogies. Finally, we ask what would it take for this educational revolution to provide egalitarian and empowering access to education, beyond any political, cultural, language, geographical and learning ability barriers.

Could AI Democratise Education? Socio-Technical Imaginaries of an EdTech Revolution

Three young operators working for Humanity and Inclusion in Uganda assessing an elderly woman who uses a crutch

Type

Editorial

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Disability Interactions
The Digital and Assistive Technologies for Ageing initiative: learning from the GATE initiative

Chapal Khasnabis, Catherine Holloway, Malcolm MacLachlan

We are now in an era of assistive care and assistive living—whereby many people, of all ages, in good health, and those who are more frail, or with cognitive or functional impairments, are using a broad range of technologies to assist and enhance their daily living. Assistive living1 is becoming an important part of population health and rehabilitation, which can help to maximise an individual's abilities, regardless of age or functional capacity. This encouraging shift in ethos has been strengthened by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which a plethora of digital and remote technologies have been used.

The Lancet; 2020

The Digital and Assistive Technologies for Ageing initiative: learning from the GATE initiative

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Local Productions
Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners

B Oldfrey, A Tchorzewska, R Jackson, M Croysdale, R Loureiro, C Holloway, M Miodownik

Elastomeric liners are commonly worn between socket and limb by prosthetic wearers. This is due to their superior skin adhesion, load distribution and their ability to form a seal. Laboratory tests suggest that elastomeric liners allow reduced shear stress on the skin and give a higher cushioning effect on bony prominences, since they are soft in compression, and similar to biological tissues [1]. However, they also increase perspiration reducing hygiene and increasing skin irritations. Prosthetic users in general face a myriad of dermatological problems associated with lower limb prosthesis such as ulcers, cysts, and contact dermatitis, which are exacerbated by the closed environment of a fitted socket where perspiration is trapped and bacteria can proliferate [2].

Medical Engineering & Physics; 2021

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Abstract

Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners

Elastomeric liners are commonly worn between the prosthetic socket and the limb. A number of improvements to the state of the art of liner technology are required to address outstanding problems. A liner that conforms to the residuum more accurately, may improve the skin health at the stump-socket interface. Previous work has shown that for effective thermal management of the socket environment, an active heat removal system is required, yet this is not available. Volume tracking of the stump could be used as a diagnostic tool for looking at the changes that occur across the day for all users, which depend on activity level, position, and the interaction forces of the prosthetic socket with the limb. We believe that it would be advantageous to embed these devices into a smart liner, which could be replaced and repaired more easily than the highly costly and labour-intensive custom-made socket. This paper presents the work to develop these capabilities in soft material technology, with: the development of a printable nanocomposite stretch sensor system; a low-cost digital method for casting bespoke prosthetic liners; a liner with an embedded stretch sensor for growth / volume tracking; a model liner with an embedded active cooling system.

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Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners

, Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners, Medical Engineering & Physics, Volume 87, 2021, Pages 45-55, ISSN 1350-4533, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mede....

Additive manufacturing techniques for smart prosthetic liners

A lady in a wheelchair in a building in Africa

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology
Culture and Participation

Research Group

Disability Interactions
“When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

Giulia Barbareschi, Mark T. Carew, Elizabeth Aderonke Johnson, Norah Kopi, Catherine Holloway

Stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs towards disability represent one of the most pervasive and complex barriers that limits access to health care, education, employment, civic rights and opportunities for socialization for people with disabilities [1,2,3]. The damaging impact of disability stigma is widely acknowledged and, according to article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, developing strategies, campaigns, policies and other initiatives to combat disability stigma and ensure that all people with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect is also a duty of the 182 countries who ratified the treaty [4]. Although the majority of literature focused on understanding disability stigma has been carried out in high-income settings [5,6,7], in the last decade, an increasing number of scholars have conducted studies looking at the negative stereotypes, prejudices and inaccurate beliefs that shape disability stigma in the Global South [3,8,9,10]. Most of these studies have described how these stigmatizing beliefs are often driven by a combination of personal and societal factors, ranging from misconceptions concerning the causes of different impairments (e.g., disability to be seen as a form of curse or punishment); assumptions about the lack of capabilities of people with disabilities; or discriminatory practices that actively endorse separation between people with and without disabilities [3,9,11,12]. Yet, there is a dearth of comparative studies that examine the perspectives of both people with and without disabilities of disability stigma and discrimination, including how the use of assistive technology may shape stigmatizing interactions.

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 2021

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Abstract

“When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

Disability stigma in many low- and middle-income countries represents one of the most pervasive barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing equal rights and opportunities, including the uptake of available assistive technology (AT). Previous studies have rarely examined how disability stigma may be shaped through factors endemic to social interactions, including how the use of assistive technology itself may precipitate or alleviate disability stigma. Through two strands of work, we address this gap. Via a series of focus groups with Kenyans without disabilities (Study 1) and secondary data analysis of consultations with Kenyans with disabilities and their allies (Study 2), we identify shared and divergent understandings of what shapes disability stigma and discrimination. Specifically, Kenyans with and without disabilities were cognizant of how religious/spiritual interpretations of disability, conceptions of impairments as “different” from the norm, and social stereotypes about (dis)ability shaped the experience of stigma and discrimination. Moreover, both groups highlighted assistive technology as an influential factor that served to identify or “mark” someone as having a disability. However, whereas participants without disabilities saw assistive technology purely as an enabler to overcome stigma, participants with disabilities also noted that, in some cases, use of assistive technologies would attract stigma from others.

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“When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

Barbareschi G, Carew MT, Johnson EA, Kopi N, Holloway C. “When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(8):4272. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph...

“When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

Photograph of an informal settlement

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Inclusive Design
Culture and Participation

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal setlement

Giulia Barbareschi, Ben Oldfrey, Long Xin, Grace N. Magomere, Wyclife A. Wetende, Carol Wanjira, Joyce Olenja, Victoria Austin, and Catherine Holloway

The World Health Organisation estimate that there are approximately a billion people with disabilities who require access to appropriate assistive technology and this number is set to double by 2050 [82]. Assistive technologies (ATs) play a crucial role in the lives of people with disabilities and are necessary to be able to access essential services and participate in family and community life according to one’s aspirations [40, 62, 68, 81]. Although this is not often specifcally mentioned, the large majority of people with disabilities will routinely use more than one assistive device in their everyday lives [25, 26]. For example a person with a visual impairment is likely to use a white cane to navigate from their house to the office where they work and have a screen-reader, or an equivalent accessibility software, on their computer to be able to do their work once in the office [17].

ASSETS '20: Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility; 2020

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Abstract

Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal setlement

Living in informality is challenging. It is even harder when you have a mobility impairment. Traditional assistive products such as wheelchairs are essential to enable people to travel. Wheelchairs are considered a Human Right. However, they are difficult to access. On the other hand, mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous and are increasingly seen as an assistive technology. Should therefore a mobile phone be considered a Human Right? To help understand the role of the mobile phone in contrast of a more traditional assistive technology – the wheelchair, we conducted contextual interviews with eight mobility impaired people who live in Kibera, a large informal settlement in Nairobi. Our findings show mobile phones act as an accessibility bridge when physical accessibility becomes too challenging. We explore our findings from two perspective – human infrastructure and interdependence, contributing an understanding of the role supported interactions play in enabling both the wheelchair and the mobile phone to be used. This further demonstrates the critical nature of designing for context and understanding the social fabric that characterizes informal settlements. It is this social fabric which enables the technology to be useable.

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Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal setlement

Giulia Barbareschi, Ben Oldfrey, Long Xin, Grace Nyachomba Magomere, Wycliffe Ambeyi Wetende, Carol Wanjira, Joyce Olenja, Victoria Austin, and Catherine Holloway. 2020. Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal settlement. In Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 50, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/337362...

Bridging the Divide: Exploring the use of digital and physical technology to aid mobility impaired people living in an informal setlement

Image of artwork by Jason Wiltshire-Mills, featured on the front cover of DIX

Type

Book

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Disability Interactions Creating Inclusive Innovations

; 2021

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Abstract

Disability Interactions Creating Inclusive Innovations

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.

Disability Interactions Creating Inclusive Innovations

Photograph of the Global Report On Assistive Technology paperback publication

Type

Editorial

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Introduction to the companion papers to the global report on assistive technology

Johan Borg, Wei Zhang, Emma M. Smith, Cathy Holloway

GReAT, but do we care?

If accessible, assistive technology would be life changing for a billion people across the world today – and two billion people in 2050 (WHO, 2018). It would make the difference between independence and dependence, inclusion and exclusion, life and death. It holds the potential to improve and transform health, education, livelihood and social participation; fundamental human rights everyone is entitled to. And if we are lucky to grow old, the chances are that we all would use assistive technology by then. But do we care?

Assistive Technology, The Official Journal of RESNA; 2021

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Introduction to the companion papers to the global report on assistive technology

Johan Borg, Wei Zhang, Emma M. Smith & Cathy Holloway (2021) Introduction to the companion papers to the global report on assistive technology, Assistive Technology, 33:sup1, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/10400435.2021.2003658

Introduction to the companion papers to the global report on assistive technology

A graphic displaying a balance point between supply and demand. The demand is higher than the supply

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology
Climate & Crisis Resilience

Research Group

Disability Interactions
Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review

Jamie Danemayer, Dorothy Boggs, Emma M. Smith, Vinicius Delgado Ramos, Linamara Rizzo Battistella, Cathy Holloway, and Sarah Polack

An assistive product (AP) is defined as a product used exter-nally to the human body, whose primary purpose is to main-tain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence and thereby promote his or her well-being (WHO, 2016). Global population aging forecasts a rise in the need for solu-tions that support participation and independence, including APs. 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.

Assistive Technology The Official Journal of RESNA; 2021

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Abstract

Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review

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.497 records were identified. Vision-related APs comprised 65% (n = 321 studies) of the body of literature; hearing (n = 59), mobility (n = 24), cognitive (n = 2), and studies measuring multiple domains (n = 92) were proportionately underrepresented. To assess individual AP need, 4 unique approaches were identified among 392 abstracts; 45% (n = 177) used self-report and 84% (n = 334) used clinical evaluation. Study methods were categorized among 431 abstracts; Cross-sectional studies (n = 312, 72%) and secondary analyses of cross-sectional data (n = 61, 14%) were most common. Case studies illustrating all methods are provided. Employing approaches and methods in the contexts where they are most well-suited to generate standardized AP indicators will be critical to further develop comparable population-level research informing supply and demand, ultimately expanding sustainable access to APs.

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Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review

Jamie Danemayer, Dorothy Boggs, Emma M. Smith, Vinicius Delgado Ramos, Linamara Rizzo Battistella, Cathy Holloway & Sarah Polack (2021) Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review, Assistive Technology, 33:sup1, S35-S49, DOI: 10.1080/10400435.2021.1957039

Measuring assistive technology supply and demand: A scoping review

Photograph of a humanitarian context, large white tents temporarily placed on red mud

Type

Journal Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Humanitarian & Disasters
Meeting AT needs in humanitarian crises: The current state of provision

Golnaz Whittaker, Gavin Adam Wood, Giulia Oggero, Maria Kett, Kirstin Lange

This paper discusses the evidence available in the literature for the scale and quality of AT provision interventions in crises, and what is known about the challenges and facilitators of provision. We conducted a search of the academic literature and retained literature that reported on any form of AT provision following crisis, where international humanitarian response was in place, published in English between January 2010 and June 2020.

Assistive Technology The Official Journal of RESNA; 2021

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Abstract

Meeting AT needs in humanitarian crises: The current state of provision

Humanitarian coordination systems increasingly recognize and aim to respond to the needs of people with disabilities within populations affected by crises, spurred on by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which was adopted in 2006. Many agencies state their aim to meet the requirements of the CRPD using a “twin track” approach: ensuring the inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream provision, alongside targeted support for their needs, which may include the need for Assistive Technology (AT). However, there is very little evidence of AT provision in humanitarian settings, which is a specific and urgent need for many people including the elderly and people with disabilities, and an implicit requirement of Article 11 of the CRPD and World Health Assembly resolution on improving access to assistive technology. There is also little evidence of effective mechanisms for AT provision in humanitarian settings. This is despite high and growing levels of unmet AT need in crises, and despite the legally binding requirement in the CRPD to provide AT for those who need it. AT provision faces unique challenges in humanitarian settings. This paper discusses the evidence available in the literature for the scale and quality of AT provision interventions in crises, and what is known about the challenges and facilitators of provision. We conducted a search of the academic literature and retained literature that reported on any form of AT provision following crisis, where international humanitarian response was in place, published in English between January 2010 and June 2020. We found very few examples in that academic literature of systematic and coordinated AT provision at the acute stage of crisis, and even less in the preparedness and post-acute stages. However, it is difficult to assess whether this is the result of insufficient academic attention or reflects a lack of provision. The small body of academic literature that describes AT provision in humanitarian settings paints a picture of small-scale provision, specialized to single types of impairments, and delivered by predominantly by NGOs. We also conducted a search of the gray literature, using the same inclusion criteria, in two countries: Afghanistan and South Sudan (case studies forthcoming). This gray literature provided supplementary evidence of the types of AT providers and AT provision available in those protracted crises. There are very few examples of how AT services can be scaled up (from a very low baseline) and maintained sustainably within a strengthened health system. The literature also describes more examples of provision of assistive products for mobility over assistive products for other impairments. If the paucity of literature on AT provision in humanitarian settings is a reflection of the scale of provision, this implies a deficiency in humanitarian response when it comes to providing people with AT needs with the essential products and services to which they have a right, and which will enable their access to basic, life-saving assistance. We conclude by providing recommendations for urgent actions that the AT and humanitarian community must take to fill this critical gap in the provision of essential products and services for a potentially marginalized and excluded group.

Cite

Meeting AT needs in humanitarian crises: The current state of provision

Golnaz Whittaker, Gavin Adam Wood, Giulia Oggero, Maria Kett & Kirstin Lange (2021) Meeting AT needs in humanitarian crises: The current state of provision, Assistive Technology, 33:sup1, S3-S16, DOI: 10.1080/10400435.2021.1934612

Meeting AT needs in humanitarian crises: The current state of provision

Type

Conference Paper

Themes

Assistive & Accessible Technology

Research Group

Local Productions
A Preliminary Study to Understand How Mainstream Accessibility and Digital Assistive Technologies Reaches People in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries

Tigmanshu Bhatnagar, George Torrens, Ben Oldfrey, Priya Morjaria
Felipe Ramos Barajas, Katherine Perry and Catherine Holloway

End Superscript

Access to information on digital platforms not only facilitates education, employment, entertainment, social interaction but also facilitates critical governmental services, ecommerce, healthcare services and entrepreneurship [1]. Article 9 of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) enforces its signatories to commit to provide full accessibility to every citizen of the nation [2]. This has helped to spearhead accessibility directives such as the European Accessibility Act [3] that aims to improve the functioning of markets for accessible products and services. Such directives contribute to ensure that mainstream digital technologies (smartphones, computers etc.) are accessible for everyone and without being socially remarkable, they are able to assist in daily living. Additionally, there is evidence that improving access in mainstream technologies improves product experience and usability for everyone [4]. However, mainstream access has not been fully realized, leading to inferior opportunities for people with disabilities, a disparity which is more prominent in lower and middle-income countries [5].

RESNA Annual Conference; 2021

A Preliminary Study to Understand How Mainstream Accessibility and Digital Assistive Technologies Reaches People in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries