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Disability, stigma & the role of innovation - Disability innovation live

AUSTIN, Vicki
CAREW, Matthew
MIRZOYANTS, Anastasia
BARBARESCHI, Giulia
August 2020

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This webinar focussed on the role of stigma in preventing disability inclusion, and what enables it to be overcome, focused on innovative and creative methods

The speakers talked about:

  • Culture, Paralympic legacy & how innovation can change mindsets
  • Stigma research incorporating the perspectives of persons with disabilities & disability inclusive research processes
  • Kenyan youth & the perception of people with disabilities
  • Assistive technology, identity & the role of innovation

How do legal and policy frameworks support employment of people with disabilities in Uganda? Findings from a qualitative policy analysis study

GRIFFITHS, Andrew
BECHANGE, Stevens
LORYMAN, Hannah
IGA, Chris
SCHMIDT, Eleanor
August 2020

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This policy analysis reviewed the current legislation and policies on the economic empowerment of people with disabilities in Uganda and explored the views of national stakeholders on the implementation of these policies in practice. The analysis was conducted through a document review and in‐depth stakeholder interviews. The study found that anti‐discrimination policies can only do so much for disability inclusive recruitment. Questions about policy implementation, stakeholder ownership, trust and efficiencies within the system and sufficient accountability mechanisms need addressing, if the existing framework is to be effective and positively impact the lives of people with disabilities in Uganda.
 

https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3508


Journal of International Development J. Int. Dev. 32, 1360–1378 (2020J

Work capacity assessments and efforts to achieve a job match for claimants in a social security setting: an international inventory

SENGERS, Johan H
AMBA, Femke I
BROUWER, Sandra
STAHL, Christian
2020

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Purpose: Many high-income countries are witnessing a shift of focus on eligibility for disability benefits towards promotion of work reintegration. However, little is known about how countries assess work cap- acity, and how a job match is then obtained. The current study aims to compare work capacity assess- ments and available efforts to achieve a job match in eight high-income OECD countries.

 

Methods: A survey was conducted among key stakeholders concerning organization of work capacity assessments in social security settings, and efforts made to obtain a job, across eight OECD countries: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

 

Results: In most countries, work capacity is assessed at several time points, with variations in moments and in information used for job matching. In countries obtaining information on personal and work levels, the search to find a job match usually begins with the persons who have disabilities.

 

Conclusion: Although a shift towards a holistic focus in work capacity assessment has been recognized, medical factors still prevail. Limited emphasis is placed on the implications of functional limitations for the possibilities of work. A holistic approach to assessment needs to be coupled with holistic support measures through provision of coordinated and high quality job matching services.

“Aid out of reach”: untold stories from people with disabilities

Light for the world
July 2020

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Humanitarian organisations can learn a lot from what happened during the Cyclone Idai aid response. The cyclone and its impact made global headlines. The NGO community reacted fast. More than 400 organisations and 1,000 aid workers were rapidly deployed to the affected areas of Mozambique. But what happened next remains untold.

Their stories, which form the basis of our recommendations, can help key actors improve their responses to other crises, including COVID-19.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) resources. The global reference for labour force survey design

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)
July 2020

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National labour force surveys (LFS) are the main source behind essential headline indicators of the labour market and the world of work. A wide range of economic and social policies, from monetary and fiscal policies to employment, decent work, vocational education and training, and a wide range of poverty reduction and social inclusion policies depend on labour force surveys as their main source of statistics for informed decision-making and monitoring.

To support countries in developing their national LFS, the ILO Department of Statistics maintains a set of model LFS resources to support PAPI and CAPI data collection. The ILO model LFS resources consolidate existing good survey practice and new approaches following evidence from ILO’s LFS testing programme to support the collection of work and labour market data, aligned with the latest international standards.

 

An add-on module has been introduced (July 2020) "Functional difficulties and barriers to employment" concerned with different barriers to labour market integration of persons with disabiliities.

Representation and methods of normalisation: Narratives of disability within a South African tertiary institution

DEVAR, Teagan
BOBAT, Shaida
REUBEN, Shanya
July 2020

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Background: The manner in which disability is understood influences how individuals within a society, its institutions, policies and structures are able to accommodate and support people with disabilities (PWD) (Kaplan 2000). Understanding how students with disabilities (SWD) within a higher education context perceive and experience disability as well as how key players, namely, lecturers and disability unit (DU) staff, who influence that experience, is important in further shaping policy and providing a truly inclusive environment for all within HEIs.

 

Objectives: The study aimed to examine the narratives of disability among SWD, lecturers and the DU within a tertiary institution, with a view to better understand their experiences and required initiatives to address the challenges of disability within a higher tertiary institution.

 

Method: The study drew on three theoretical frameworks: social constructionism, feminist disability theory and the Foucauldian perspective. Data for the study were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 SWD, seven members of staff from the institution’s DU and five lecturers from within the School of Applied Human Sciences. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

 

Results: The findings suggested that in spite of both facilitating and positive representations of disability, the dominant representation of disability was perceived as challenging and as a result, disempowering. Students with disabilities were found to adapt, and consequently modify their behaviour by disassociating from their disability in order to fit in.

 

Conclusion: The study highlights the need for creating spaces and engagement within an HEI context that both challenge negative discourses of disability, and at the same time, promote positive representations of disability.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 9, 2020

Radical Accessibility: Research and Recommendations. A deep dive into how accessible charities are during Covid-19 and beyond

REASON DIGITAL
July 2020

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Insights are shared into the world of digital accessibility in the charity sector: the attitudes and behaviours of beneficiaries, the accessibility needs of those accessing charity websites, the impact of coronavirus and, what should be done by charities. The authors build on knowledge gained from 12 years in the digital charity sector, their annual research into digital charity trends, a new (2020), bespoke and nationally representative survey of the general public, and insights from some of the industry’s leading minds in making charities accessible. A list of evidenced and sector-specific recommendations is provided.

 

The research and report were part of a virtual event, Radical Accessibility, hosted by Reason Digital, Microsoft UK and Charity Digital on July 9th 2020

Gap Analysis: the inclusion of people with disability and older people in humanitarian response

ROBINSON, Alex
MARELLA, Manjula
LOGAM, Lana
July 2020

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To build the evidence base on inclusion, and inform our priorities for innovation, the Elrha Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) commissioned a Gap Analysis on the Inclusion of People with Disability and Older People in Humanitarian Response. This is the first of two reports from the Gap Analysis and summarises findings from the literature review components of this work. The Gap Analysis has been led by the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne. The Nossal Institute team was supported by Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund’s Office for Indonesia and the Philippines (ASB) in the review of grey literature.  This report begins by outlining the approach taken to the academic and grey literature reviews. This is followed by an overview of findings, which maps evidence from different sectors against thematic areas based on the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards for Older People and People with Disabilities (HIS).

 

Supplementary information is available as a separate accompanying annex. The annex includes a summary of each article identified in the review arranged by HIS and sector; graphs showing the distribution of articles, including by year, humanitarian context, and geographical region; and a list of guidelines on the inclusion of people with disability and older people in humanitarian response

Microsoft at #DisabilityAdvantage: 2020 Disability:IN Annual Conference

NADELLA, Satya
LAY-FLURRIE, Jenny
July 2020

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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.

Disability Royal Commission: WWDA’s Response to Group Homes Issues Paper

SANDS, Therese
July 2020

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In 2020 the Disability Royal Commission released an issues paper on group homes. The issues paper asked 10 questions based on some of the key issues and barriers experienced by people with disability living in Group Homes.

This is Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) response to the issues paper which highlights key recommendations to improve the lives and experiences of people with disability living in group homes. The recommendations stem from the following key areas:

  • Living independently and being in the community
  • Intersectionality
  • Ableism, segregation and violence
  • Exposing and responding to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation

Getting the data - How much does aid money support inclusion of persons with disabilities?A guide for advocates in the disability movement to work with the data generated by the OECD-DAC ‘disability marker’ in aid.

MEEKS, Polly
July 2020

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Official Development Assistance is a vital resource for realising the rights of persons with disabilities. In 2019, development partners spent 153 billion US dollars of ODA. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals, development partners are committed to make their ODA disability inclusive. And ODA is governed in a way that offers important advocacy opportunities for the disability movement. Taken together, these factors make ODA an essential resource for realising the CRPD. ODA can never be a substitute for national governments’ obligations to finance the rights of persons with disabilities, but it can make a very significant contribution in the short term. In fact, research in some countries has found ODA to be a much bigger source of finance for the rights of persons with disabilities than domestic government budgets.

The new ‘disability marker’ in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s database helps to answer how much ODA actually aims to be disability inclusive. Using the disability marker, every ODA project in the database is now sorted into one of 4 categories

Opportunities for digital assistive technology innovations in Africa and Asia

ARANDA-JAN, Clara
et al
July 2020

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Digital assistive technologies (ATs), particularly mobile-based ATs, have the potential to be a valuable and cost-effective tool for persons with disabilities. To realise this opportunity there is a need for locally relevant digital ATs that meet the range of needs of persons with disabilities.

This report looks to better understand the landscape of digital innovations for assistive solutions in LMICs and to capture experiences from innovators in Africa and Asia working in this space. Through a literature review which looked at 60 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, examples of frontier technologies and ICTs used as ATs were identified. From these, 10 innovations in Asia and Africa were selected for deep dive analysis. Findings were complemented by 30 interviews with global experts in AT, accessibility, and innovation. 

Let’s Talk about COVID-19 and disability. An interactive radio campaign on the livelihoods of people with disabilities in Uganda

LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
July 2020

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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 

Understanding paid support relationships: possibilities for mutual recognition between young people with disability and their support workers

ROBINSON, Sally
GRAHAM, Anne
FISHER, Karen R
NEALE, Kate
DAVY, Laura
JOHNSON, Kelley
HALL, Ed
2020

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The quality of paid relationships is key for effective support, yet little is known about how people receiving and providing sup- port understand and experience the relationship. This paper reports on recent research that explored the role of relationships with paid support workers in strengthening the rights and well- being of young people with cognitive disability in Australia. The research used photo-rich participatory methods with 42 pairs of young people and their support workers and drew on Honneth’s recognition theory to specifically explore experiences of being valued, respected and cared about in their work together. The findings point to the importance of these con- nected aspects of recognition in paid support relationships, highlighting both the presence and absence of these, as well as experiences of misrecognition. The implications of recognition for strengthening support need close consideration in an inter- national context characterised by personalisation of support, resource constraints and inquiries into poor practice.

Dimensions of invisibility: insights into the daily realities of persons with disabilities living in rural communities in India

GUPTA, Shivani
DE WITTE, Luc P
MEERSHOEK, Agnes
2020

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Persons with disabilities in rural India do not have the opportunity to lead a self-determined life and be included in their community as required by the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. To investigate their experience of living everyday life and the amount of agency they are able to exercise, in-depth interviews were undertaken. The Capability Approach (CA) was used to ana- lyse the situation that was seen in terms of outcome of the interplay between internal and external factors resulting in loss of agency. The results show that the dependency they experience due to lack of adequate support to undertake activities and being completely dependent on the family places them in a vicious circle of ‘self-worthlessness’. Reducing the dependency disabled people face and chang- ing perceptions of the community towards disability may break this circle.

The social and human rights models of disability: towards a complementarity thesis

LAWSON, Anna
BECKETT, Angharad E
2020

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This article aims to reorient thinking about the relationship between the long-standing social model of disability and the rapidly emerging human rights model. In particular, it contests the influential view that the latter develops and improves upon the former (the improvement thesis) and argues instead that the two models are complementary (the complementarity thesis). The article begins with a discursive analysis of relevant documents to investigate how each of the two models has been used in the crafting and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This highlights the increasing importance of the human rights model in this policy context. It also provides examples of the operation of the two models which inform the remainder of the discussion. We then critique the comparisons between the models which underpin the improvement thesis; and, drawing on Foucault’s technologies of power and Beckett and Campbell’s ‘oppositional device’ methodology, deepen and develop this comparative analysis. The result, we argue, is that the two models have different subjects and different functions. In the human rights context, their roles are complementary and supportive.

The outcomes of individualized housing for people with disability and complex needs: a scoping review

OLIVER, Stacey
Gosden-Kaye, Emily Z
WINKLER, Dianne
DOUGLAS, Jacinta M
2020

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PURPOSE: Worldwide, disability systems are moving away from congregated living towards individualized models of housing. Individualized housing aims to provide choice regarding living arrangements and the option to live in houses in the community, just like people without disability. The purpose of this scoping review was to determine what is currently known about outcomes associated with individualized housing for adults with disability and complex needs.

 

METHODS: Five databases were systematically searched to find studies that reported on outcomes associated with individualized housing for adults (aged 18–65 years) with disability and complex needs.

 

RESULTS: Individualized housing was positively associated with human rights (i.e., self-determination, choice and autonomy) outcomes. Individualized housing also demonstrated favourable outcomes in regards to domestic tasks, social relationships, challenging behaviour and mood. However, outcomes regarding adaptive behaviour, self-care, scheduled activities and safety showed no difference, or less favourable results, when compared to group homes.

 

CONCLUSIONS: The literature indicates that individualized housing has favourable outcomes for people with disability, particularly for human rights. Quality formal and informal supports were identified as important for positive outcomes in individualized housing. Future research should use clear and consistent terminology and longitudinal research methods to investigate individualized housing outcomes for people with disability.

The rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change - panel discussion. 14th Meeting, 44th Regular Session Human Rights Council

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
July 2020

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The Panel focused on good practices and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of the adverse impact of climate change. Its main objectives were to understand the benefits of disability-inclusive climate action and to identify opportunities for international cooperation in mitigation and adaptation actions which promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

The panellists of the event were:

  • Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
  • Ms Amalia A. Decena, President of Handicapables Association of Cagayan, Philippines
  • Mr Sébastien Jodoin, Assistant Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Law and Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and the Environment
  • Ms Deborah Iyute Oyuu, Programme Officer at the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda

Research for all: making research inclusive of people with disabilities

CBM-NOSSAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DISABILITY INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT IMPACT NETWORK
July 2020

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Developing programs to be inclusive of people with disabilities ensures that all people benefit. Acknowledging and understanding the lived experiences of people with disabilities is essential in changing the paradigm that development programs ‘do to’ or ‘do for’ a specific vulnerable and marginalised portion of the community. It addresses issues of equity and of development effectiveness.

 

This guidance provides tools and resources for practitioners, researchers and policymakers for any and all forms of research, or evaluation with human participants, to ensure best-practice. This guide is for ensuring that all people with disabilities within the population or community are not excluded (either purposefully or accidentally, through poor planning or inexperience) in doing development research or evaluation. The guide is not specifically designed for those doing research or projects solely focusing on people with disabilities.

 

This guide is divided into three sections for addressing and implementing good practice in development research.

 

Section One sets out the fundamental principles and ethical considerations of disability-inclusive development (DID) research. This includes an overview of the rights-based approach to disability, and its guidance in shaping development.
Section Two discusses the ethical considerations for designing inclusive research questions and methods, including when working with children with disabilities. This involves enabling and obtaining informed consent.
Section Three details the key steps and processes for ethically involving people with disabilities throughout the four main phases of the research process: planning, design, implementation, and dissemination.

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