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Purpose: People with intellectual disabilities are deeply affected by health inequity, which is also reflected in their access to and use of assistive technology (AT). Including the perspectives of adults with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, together with the views of local health professionals, suppliers of AT and policy-makers, this paper aims to provide an overview of factors influencing access to AT and its use by people with intellectual disabilities in Bangalore, a southern region of India.

Method: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 adults with intellectual disabilities (ranging from mild to profound) and their caregivers, and with 16 providers of AT. This helped to gain insight into the current use, needs, knowledge, awareness, access, customisation, funding, follow-up, social inclusion, stigma and policies around AT and intellectual disability.

Results: Access to AT was facilitated by community fieldworkers and services to reach out and identify people with intellectual disabilities. Important barriers were stigma, and lack of knowledge and awareness among parents. Factorsrelated to continued use were the substantial dependence on the care system to use AT, and the importance of AT training and instructions for the user and the care system.

Conclusion and Implications: The barriers and facilitators related to AT for people with intellectual disabilities differ from other populations in need. The findings of this study can be used to inform and adjust country policies and frameworks whose aim is to improve access to AT and enhance the participation of people with intellectual disabilities within their communities.

Purpose: This paper provides a preliminary snapshot of the proposed priorities approved by the United Nations programme designated to support the progressive realisation of the CRPD, the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) outlined by specific Convention Articles and, more broadly, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Method:A content analysis of project proposal summaries approved for funding by the UNPRPD was conducted against the CRPD and SDGs. A matrix of data was produced to draw links between proposed objectives and established international frameworks guiding global development.

Results:This analysis provides two sets of information. First, a look at the distribution of rights identified in the initial project proposals and accepted by the UNPRPD, establishing a baseline of priorities and outstanding need. Second, it identifies issues that need to be addressed to ensure the advancement of all rights outlined in the CRPD and equitable achievement of the SDGs.

Conclusion and Implications:Disability inclusion is necessary to achieve the SDGs in an equitable manner by 2030, as well as implement the CRPD. The UNPRPD supports a diverse range of projects spanning many of the Convention Articles and global goals; however, full participation and scope of disability inclusion requires programming in all areas of both instruments, and this has not yet been fully integrated in the UNPRPD funded project proposals.

Limitations: This study was limited to the available UNPRPD project proposal summaries that were successful, and did not include all the proposals submitted for consideration. The proposals accepted for funding give insights into the disability inclusive development priorities chosen for project implementation by UN agencies.

Purpose: The study aimed to identify the effects of the CBR programme on parents of children with Cerebral Palsy, living in Karnataka State, India. It also tried to find the challenges and improvements needed to make the CBR programme more effective.

Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive study design was used to collect a sample of 100 parents of children with Cerebral Palsy, with GMFCS levels IV and V. The sample was drawn from various communities in Bangalore, Davanagere and Bijapur, where the services of The Association of People with Disability are available. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the study subjects. Data was analysed by SPSS using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: It was observed that the CBR programme had a positive effect on parents’ health, knowledge, social lives and empowerment. A binary logistic regression was done to find the relationship between health, knowledge, social lives and assistive devices use. A strong association was found between all the areas (p=.001) except GMFCS and assistive devices use (p=.004) at 95% CI. The odds ratios between them were greater than 1 and showed the strong positive effect of the CBR programme on parents.

Conclusion: The CBR programme not only has a positive effect on children with Cerebral Palsy, but also plays an important role in parents’ lives. It contributes in a positive way to parents’ overall activity.

Purpose: An evaluation of a disability equality training (DET) programme, based on the social model of disability, was conducted to explore the changes in the participants’ attitudes and behaviours in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Methods: This study is composed of two parts. First, the participants’ attitude changes during DET sessions were examined through a descriptive quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires and related documents. Second, thebehavioural changes at the organisational and individual levels, the impact on society, and related factors were explored by quantitative and qualitative analysis of good practice cases: 39 participants were selected through purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Results: It was found that most participants adopted the social model perspective within these sessions. A qualitative content analysis of the good practice cases also found that the majority of participants attempted to change their social environments after the sessions. Thematic analysis identified promotional factors, such as within-organisation dynamics and compatibility and barriers at the individual and organisational levels, which were associated with participants’ behaviours after DET sessions.

Conclusion: The implications of these findings are discussed in connection with the strategic implementation of DET to promote disability-inclusive development. Future studies should examine the effectiveness of a strategy by considering the factors identified in this study and by using a reliable sample in various settings where DET sessions are conducted.

Purpose: This study aimed at understanding the perceptions of people with physical disabilities regarding playing Light Volleyball (LVB), identifying the possible constraints and risks they might face while playing, and providing their suggestions for fine-tuning the Light Volleyball intervention programmes.

Method: Four focus group interviews were conducted with 17 participants who joined the Light Volleyball trial programme. The participants were 11 males and 6 females, with an average age of 53.5 years (SD=11.83 years). People with poliomyelitis (n = 15), spinal cord injury (n = 1), hearing impairment (n = 1) were included.

Results: Participants indicated improved reactivity and coordination, cooperation in team, happiness, and novelty in general as positive outcomes while playing Light Volleyball. They preferred to play in the seated position (i.e., sitting light volleyball - SLVB), and with simpler rules. They believed that their ability to play Light Volleyball was subject to their body constraints.

Conclusion: Sitting Light Volleyball can be one of the new physical activity options for future sport promotion among people with physical disabilities in the community. The effectiveness of playing Sitting Light Volleyball in enhancing health among people with physical disabilities needs to be studied in future.

Purpose: Although cerebral palsy is the most prevalent health condition linked to childhood disability in Bangladesh, support and rehabilitation for this group is limited and intervention development is slow. An initiative to address these unmet needs was the development of a parent training programme for the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy. The aim of this study was to explore what was important in the everyday lives of children with cerebral palsy in rural Bangladesh and take their views into account in order to inform the parent/caregiver training programme.

Methods: Qualitative data was collected from12 children with cerebral palsy, between 5 - 14 years of age. The children were purposively selected from among those who attended the parent training programme. A participatory method called the ‘Feeling Dice’ was used to elicit children’s feelings about their everyday lives. The approach was easy to use, acceptable in the local context, the children enjoyed the activity, and it generated rich information.

Results: ‘Inclusion in play’ and ‘being able to attend school’ made the children happy and were their two main priorities, yet were not key issues for parents. The children were frustrated by their dependence on others for day-to-day activities such as feeding, bathing, and transport to school. Children also played an important part in encouraging their parents to attend the training course.

Conclusion: This study showed that valuable information can be gathered from children with cerebral palsy by using a simple and adaptable participatory research tool. Children’s views and priorities sometimes differed from those of their parents and carers, and could be useful for developing more relevant and valid interventions. Children need to be recognised as important ‘agents of change’ within their own rehabilitation. This methodology is in harmony with the UNCRPD recommendations, and supports inclusive and rights-based intervention development.

Purpose: Psychological well-being is a growing concern in society. It is starting to play a pivotal role in the treatment and care of clients. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of age, sex and socioeconomic status on the self-esteem, body image and quality of life of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake amputees. Many of them are at a significant stage in their lives, especially those who are making the transition from childhood and adolescence into adulthood.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2015. Forty-five participants were recruited from clinic sessions in Sichuan. The main outcome measures were Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), Chinese Amputee Body Image Scale (CABIS), and WHO Quality of Life-Bref Instrument (WHO-QOL-Bref). Results were analysed using Student’s T-test and Chi-square test where appropriate, and ANOVA for multi-group comparisons.

Results: Participants under 18 years of age scored higher in RSE (p=0.05), and lower in CABIS (p<0.005). They also scored higher in various QOL domains (D3: p<0.08, D4: p=0.06) and WHOQOL-Bref question 2 (p=0.06). Participants of different SES did not show any significant differences in the outcome measures. Female subjects scored higher in WHOQOL-Bref Question 1 (p=0.03).

Conclusion and Implication: Younger amputees have less body image distortion, higher quality of life and self-esteem compared to older amputees. Female amputees also appear to have a higher quality of life compared to male amputees. Socioeconomic status does not affect rehabilitation outcome and psychological well-being of amputees. However, the main factors affecting psychological well-being appear to be predominantly age and, possibly, gender.

Purpose: This research study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the services provided by CBR programmes in Jordan.

Method: This was a mixed-methods investigation. A survey was carried out with 47 participants (stakeholders and volunteers) from four CBR centres in Jordan. It comprised 18 questions that collected both qualitative and quantitative data with both closed- and open-ended questions. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS Version 22.0. Qualitative data was analysed through thematic content analysis and open coding to identify emergent themes.

Results:  40.4% of the participants evaluated the effectiveness of CBR services as low. This mainly stemmed from the lack of efforts to increase the local community’s knowledge about CBR, disability and the role of CBR programmes towards people with disabilities.

Conclusions: A proposal was offered concerning the priorities of CBR programmes in Jordan. Efforts need to be directed at promoting livelihood and empowerment components in order to actualise the principles of CBR, mainly by promoting multispectral collaboration as a way of operation.

Implications: This study was inclusive of all types of disability.  Barriers to the effectiveness of services may stem from accessibility issues to the families of persons with disabilities (hard to reach) or from CBR services themselves (hard to access). The culturally specific evaluative tool in this study was of “good” specificity and sensitivity, this evaluative instrument can be transferrable to measure the impact of CBR programmes in other settings. 

Purpose: Roatán, a small island in Honduras, is home to six ethnic groups. Due to financial constraints, many children have limited access to schooling. This article is a study on teachers’ perceptions of disabilities and students with disabilities and inclusive education on the island.

Method: Twenty seven teachers working in public and private schools, and schools funded by the World Bank, were interviewed in March-April of 2014 in order to explore cultural and social representations of disabilities on the island.

Results: The findings show that many of the teachers’ representations can be analysed under the lens of different models of disability - the medical model, the social model, and a religious-moral model. Inclusive education is perceived less as a means of including children with disabilities in the regular classroom, and more as a method of creating institutions to take care of their needs.

Conclusion: There is a strong intersection of poverty, post-colonialism and disability which makes working under an inclusive lens very difficult for teachers. The cultural norms influence ideas of normalcy and disabilities, and the blame is on parents for having children with disabilities.