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Development Initiatives (DI) Director of Data Use Claudia Wells, Senior Strategic Partnerships & Engagement Manager Bernard Sabiti and Founder and Director of the GeoCensos Foundation Javier Carranza Tresoldi explore the power of partnerships to improve data. Looking at the benefits, challenges and nuances of collaboration between all kinds of actors, they share case studies of what works and practical advice to build strong partnerships. 

This webinar, hosted by Global Disability Innovation (GDI) hub, brings together a diverse panel of experts to discuss what inclusive design looks like in practice for them, who benefits and how it can offer methods to build a more accessible world that benefits all of us.

Speakers presentations were:

• What inclusive design means to GDI Hub and why it matters, drawing on our experience working in both the UK and globally
• An overview of inclusive design of the built environment in the UK and Kenya, including the role of access panels to embed the views of disabled people in planning and decision-making
• An introduction to GDI Hub’s AT2030 programme including our Inclusive Infrastructure research sub-programme that is conducting six global case studies in LMIC cities around the world over the next 2-3 years.
• The challenges and opportunities for an accessible Mongolia and the importance of Disabled People’s Organisations (DPO) engagement in decision-making
• The importance of inclusive planning processes for accessible cities in Indonesia

Understanding disability-related costs is critical to building social protection systems that truly support inclusion, participation, and sustainable escape from poverty of persons with disabilities across the life cycle. It challenges some usual approaches with regards to targeting, mutually exclusive benefits, and focus on incapacity to work rather than support to inclusion. 

Supporting the dissemination of a background paper, the webinar presented the diversity of disability-related costs and the role of different methods used to assess them. It also presented some practices of accounting for disability costs in the design of mainstream social protection schemes as well as how low and middle-income countries can progressively build the combination of cash transfers, concessions, and services needed to address them.

Speakers topics were:

Understanding disability-related costs for better social protection systems.

Accounting for disablity related costs in design of mainstream family assistance schemes, the case of Moldova and Mongolia.

Supporting a survey to estimate the good and services required for basic participation in Indonesia.

How social protection systems can progressively address disability-related costs: the case of Thailand. 

Not either or Disability allowance and economic empowerment in Fiji.

Nicole LeBlanc, a disability rights activist, talks about the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and what she hopes for the next 30 years. Areas highlighted on the road to achieving equality and equity for all include health and health services, housing, flexible working, vocational rehabilitation and disaster preparedness.

Statistic Report - People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. They must be included meaningfully in the response and recovery. 

There are many different perspectives for understanding autism. These perspectives may each convey different levels of stigma for autistic individuals. This qualitative study aimed to understand how autistic individuals make sense of their own autism and experience the stigma attached to autism. The study used critical grounded theory tools. Participants (N1⁄420) discussed autism as central to their identity, and integral to who they are. While participants thought of autism as value neutral, they expressed how society confers negative meanings onto autism, and thus, them. The findings also indicate that different understand- ings of autism confer different levels of stigma. Participants expressed constant exposure to stigma and managed this stigma in different ways. Such methods included reframing to more positive understandings of autism, the reclamation of language, and using concealment and disclosure stra- tegically. The implications of these findings are discussed further in the article.

When launching the Strategy in June 2019, the Secretary-General stated that the United Nations would lead by example and raise its standards and performance on disability inclusion across all pillars of its work, from Headquarters to the field. The present report outlines the first steps on the path to achieving transformative and lasting change for persons with disabilities across the United Nations system

The report is organized into seven sections. Following the introduction, an overview of the advances made in the United Nations on disability inclusion, including the adoption of the Strategy, is provided in section II; the first year of implementation of the Strategy at the entity and country levels is reported on in section III; coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response and recovery efforts are the focus of section IV; the overarching actions for implementation of the Strategy are considered in section V; challenges and opportunities are highlighted in section VI; and the conclusion and recommendations for consideration by the General Assembly are contained in section VII. The report provides an analysis of information from 57 United Nations entities1 that reported under the Strategy ’s entity accountability framework and seven United Nations country teams that completed the accountability scorecard on disability inclusion as part of a targeted roll-out.

Purpose: To explore work related and personal facilitators and barriers for return to work (RTW) and stay at work after stroke.

Materials and methods: Twenty individuals post-stroke (median age 52 years; seven women) were inter- viewed in focus groups. Data were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis.

Results: An overall theme “Work conditions, support and changed personal priorities influenced RTW and stay at work after stroke” emerged and covered three categories: “Adjustments and flexibility at the work place facilitated RTW and a sustainable work situation”, “Psychosocial support and knowledge about stroke consequences facilitated work and reduced stress”, and “Changed view of work and other personal priorities”. Physical adjustments at the work place and flexibility in the work schedule were perceived facilitators. Support from family and colleagues were important, whereas lack of knowledge of stroke dis- abilities at the work place was perceived a barrier. Also changed personal priorities in relation to the work and the current life situation influenced RTW in various ways.

Conclusions: The individual’s opportunities to influence the work situation is a key factor for RTW and the ability to stay at work after stroke. Adjustments, flexibility, support, knowledge of stroke, and receptiv- ity to a changed view of work are important for a sustainable work situation.

This report is one in a series presenting findings from the Global COVID-19 Research Study on The hidden impact of COVID-19 on children. The results presented here focus on the impacts of COVID-19 on children and parents/caregivers with disabilities and their families, drawing on data from our representative sample of 17,565 parents/ caregivers and 8,069 children in our programme participants group. Topics covered include impacts of COVID-19 on household economy, health and nutrition, child education and learning, child rights, relationships between children and their parents/caregivers, psychosocial wellbeing, family separation and household violence.

The research was implemented in 46 countries in June and July 2020 and resulted in the largest and most comprehensive survey of children and families during the COVID-19 crisis to date, with 31,683 parents/ caregivers and 13,477 children aged 11–17 participating in the research. The research sampled three distinct population groups:

1. Save the Children programme participants;

2. Specific population groups of interest to Save the Children;

3. The general public.

A representative sample of Save the Children programme participants with telephone numbers or email addresses was obtained in 37 countries.

A GLOBAL RESEARCH SERIES