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This seminar video the findings and recommendations from a four year CBM-funded project in Bangladesh and Pakistan to identify children with disabilities and connect them with appropriate rehabilitative services

Purpose: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises assistive technology such as wheelchairs (WCs) as a tool for social inclusion for this population. In less resourced settings, organisations lack information about effective models of WC service provision. The goal of this study was to investigate the lifespan of WCs and whether they provided reliable mobility, at one clinic in Mexico.

Methods: Caregivers of children, who had requested replacements for their WCs from a clinic in Mexico, were interviewed in Spanish. Among others, the questions pertained to repairs/modifications, adverse events and WC usage characteristics. The owners exchanged their WCs for new ones at the clinic, and the maintenance status of each returned WC was evaluated using the WC Assessment Checklist (WAC).

Results: Twenty-three donated WCs, used by children aged 3 to 14 years for an average of 19 months, were evaluated. Brakes (n=18), seat and back-sling upholstery (n=11 and 7 respectively), and armrests (n=14) were the components that failed most frequently. A total of 26 adverse events due to WC failure were reported. Adverse events were significantly associated with poor WAC scores (rs=-0.544, p=0.007).

Conclusions: Poor WC reliability, associated with adverse events which could undermine social engagement, indicates the need for a stronger WC and for regular maintenance. For instance, brake failures which were most often associated with adjustment issues, could have been resolved with maintenance, while seat and back-sling upholstery and armrest failures suggest that the WC may not be appropriate for the environment. Future work should investigate the robustness of these WCs using standardised methods (ISO 7176), as well as the impact of maintenance interventions on WC reliability.

The report is a collection of good practices of inclusion of people with disabilities in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, compiled through the ‘Support to DPOs’ project. Making It Work methodology was used to collect good practice of social integration and participation by people with disabilities; good practice in terms of working methods to ensure partner ownership and long term sustainability; and good practice in terms of process, such as participative working methods to ensure the long-term ‘real’ inclusion of persons with disabilities. The target of the report is the Disability Working Committee, the key Government body in decision making on disability issues. The report considers 13 case studies on such topics as DPO activity, inclusive education, community participation, rehabilitation and livelihoods. For each case study, influencing factors (positive and negative) are identified, and possible improvements and recommendations for replication suggested. This collection of good practices gives a diverse range of possible actions for the enhanced inclusion of persons with disabilities; combining access to services (early education, mainstream education, and rehabilitation), arts and culture, awareness-raising, and active participation in political and social life

This video documentary and accompanying booklet present Handicap International’s approaches taken since January 2007 to restore the Rwandan population’s psychological well-being and its social cohesion after the genocide. Knowledge about setting up and implementing a community mental health project is shared for the information of Handicap International team members, partners and the public. General guidelines are offered to share expertise and technical perspectives in the field of mental health and psychological support

When attempting to understand the construct of intellectual disability in different contexts, speaking to family members in addition to the individual with the disability may provide new insight about understandings of and responses to intellectual disability in society and may help to identify the forms of support that are available or needed to ensure the quality of life of people with disabilities. This article outlines and discusses interviews that were conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with family members of children and adults with intellectual disabilities. These interviews explore how families came to understand that their child had an intellectual disability; the availability of family support; and family hopes and dreams for the future, and were a part of a wider exploratory study that gathered insight from individuals with disabilities, families, and other providers of support to explore understandings and perceptions of disability in Dar es Salaam. Understanding family experiences will help researchers, policy makers, non-governmental organisations, and others to identify family strengths and family support needs which can ultimately improve family quality of life and the quality of life of the member with a disability.

This policy brief provides an overview of Handicap International’s 2012 policy paper on inclusive education which explains Handicap International’s current work on inclusive education and offers perspectives for the period 2011-2015
PP Brief No 8

This document provides an overview of the key elements of contingency planning. This guide is aimed at assisting National Society and IFRC staff responsible for developing contingency plans at the local, national, regional or global levels. It is essential to develop contingency plans in consultation and cooperation with those who will have to implement or approve them. This document provides guidelines, not strict rules; planning priorities will differ according to the context and scope of any given situation. This guide breaks contingency planning down into five main steps: prepare, analyse, develop, implement and review. Each step is covered by a separate chapter in this document

During the “African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2000-2009)”, East African countries witnessed significant achievements, especially in the development of law, collection of statistics and in funding. However, many persons with disability are still marginalised from opportunities in education, healthcare and employment.

Purpose: With the pre-supposition that the lack of institutional capacities for implementing disability policies is the one major stumbling-block which hinders widespread delivery of social services to persons with disabilities in low-income countries, this study makes a comparative analysis of institutional capacities in the disability sectors of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Method: The research methods adopted were a literature survey and a field survey. The framework for analysis consists of: 1) capacities and functions of disability units in central governments, 2) relationships between central and local governments in the disability sector, and 3) relationships between governments and organisations of persons with disability (DPOs). Special attention is paid to the status, roles and functions of national councils for disability (NCDs), the independent statutory bodies recently established in each of the three countries, with clear authority and duties for the implementation of disability policies. The NCDs enable multi-sectoral stakeholders to be involved in the implementation of disability policies; therefore, positive relationships between the governments and DPOs are essential for the smooth functioning of the NCDs.

Results: While the result of the field survey in Tanzania reveals several effective approaches for the smooth operation of the NCD, further study is needed to verify whether these approaches would be applicable to other East African countries such as Kenya and Uganda.