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Purpose

Appropriate wheelchair provision is necessary for addressing participation barriers experienced by individuals with mobility impairments. Health care professionals involved in the wheelchair service provision process require a specific set of skills and knowledge to enable wheelchair use that meets individual posture, mobility and daily living requirements. However, inconsistencies exist in academic programmes globally about providing comprehensive education and training programmes. The planned scoping review aims to review and synthesize the global literature on wheelchair service provision education for healthcare professional students, healthcare personnel and educators offered by universities, organizations and industries.

Methods

This scoping review will be guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodological framework. Comprehensive literature searches will be conducted on various global electronic databases on health to seek out how wheelchair service provision education is organized, integrated, implemented and evaluated. Two independent reviewers will perform eligibility decisions and key data extractions. Data from selected studies will be extracted and analysed using conventional content analysis. Information related to wheelchair service provision education including curriculum development, content, teaching methods, evaluation and models of integration will be synthesized.

Implications and dissemination

The planned scoping review will be the first to examine all aspects of wheelchair service provision education across professionals, settings and countries. We anticipate that results will inform the content of a Wheelchair Educators’ Package, and if appropriate, a follow-up systematic review. An article reporting the results of the scoping review will be submitted for publication to a scientific journal.

The 2015-2017 Advocating for Change Project (AfC), a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aimed at promoting and advocating for rights of people with disabilities through the push for the ratification of the UNCRPD at the national level, improving quality decentralization process at the local level and promoting quality livelihood action for people with disabilities through improved and inclusive vocational training center (CNEFP) in Tibar.

One particular activity in this project is the collection and dissemination of best practices with the "Making it Work" methodology. This methodology aims to document and promote already existing best practices that adhere to the principles of UNCRPD. Making it Work utilizes a multi stakeholder approach and encourages members of DPOs and other organizations to identify best practices and effective action in and surrounding their localities. These best practices are then collected with the ultimate goal to serve as examples of embodiment of the UNCRPD for replication by organizations or institutions elsewhere.

Background: South African higher education policy frameworks highlight renewed interest in equity, access and participation imperatives for students with disabilities (SWDs). However, students with visual disabilities continue to face barriers in their teaching practice school placements.

Objectives: This article aims, firstly, to provide early insights into the barriers experienced by students with visual disabilities in their teaching practice school placements in under-resourced schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Secondly, it introduces learning communities and a teaching practice pre-placement booklet to enhance equity, access and participation in teaching practice school placements.

Method: This study adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews to elicit data from two Bachelor of Education students with visual disabilities, who were part of a teaching practice learning community managed by the Disability Unit at the University. Thematic analysis was used, using Tinto’s Learning Community Model which generated valuable evidence to argue for institutional commitment to achieve equity, access and participation for students with visual disabilities.

Results: Through engagement with a teaching practice learning community and a teaching practice pre-placement booklet, two students with visual disabilities responded to and managed the chalkboard in ways that promoted teaching and learning in the classroom. These retention support trajectories provide evidence to support enhanced equity, access and participation. Given the stigma associated with disability and the need for equity at policy level, higher education institutions should seriously consider systemic mechanisms for access, participation and success outcomes in the teaching practice school placements of students with visual disabilities.

Conclusion: Barriers to participation signal the need for accessible teaching and learning strategies for use by students with visual disabilities in their teaching practice school placements. Teaching practice assessors should be alerted to contextual differences in resourced and under-resourced school settings and the diverse ways in which SWDs navigate these differences.

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

The National Guidelines for the Project for ASEAN Hometown Improvement through DisabilityInclusive Communities Model: A Compilation is a consolidation of policies from 7 ASEAN countries, namely, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, to provide a technical guiding document in the planning and implementation of an inclusive Hometown Improvement process.

Policies for each country are reported and topics covered include: situation of persons with disabilities; disability inclusive governance; accessibility for persons with disabilities; disability inclusive business; hometown improvement model; and partnership amongst ASEAN

This publication reflects back on four co-design processes undertaken by Light for the World’s Disability Inclusion Lab during the past few years. These different journeys in solution development have demonstrated the power of this methodology to create genuine inclusion in livelihood programming while striving to empower persons with disabilities to achieve economic success. In this publication the social innovation lab methodology is described as a unique approach to inclusive programming, highlighting four cases: The Livelihood Improvement Challenge in Uganda, the lab in the EmployAble programme in Ethiopia, the AgriLab in Cambodia, and the InBusiness pilot in Kenya. Lessons learnt are described.

Purpose: To explore barriers and pathways to the inclusion of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities in technical and vocational education and training programmes in four East African countries, in order to pave the way to greater inclusion.

Materials and methods: An explorative, qualitative study including 10 in-depth interviews and a group discussion was conducted with coordinators of different programmes in four East African countries. Two independent researchers coded the interviews inductively using Atlas.ti. The underlying framework used is the culture, structure, and practice model.

Results: Barriers and pathways to inclusion were found in the three interrelated components of the model. They are mutually reinforcing and are thus not independent of one another. Barriers regarding culture include negative attitudes towards persons with mental illnesses, structural barriers relate to exclusion from primary school, rigid curricula and untrained teachers and unclear policies. Culture and structure hence severely hinder a practice of including persons with mental disabilities in technical and vocational education and training programmes. Pathways suggested are aiming for a clearer policy, more flexible curricula, improved teacher training and more inclusive attitudes.

Conclusions: In order to overcome the identified complex barriers, systemic changes are necessary. Suggested pathways for programme coordinators serve as a starting point.

This report presents the results of a monitoring project on the employment situation of persons with disabilities in Nepal. The report is one step toward a comprehensive evaluation of Nepal’s constitutional, legal and policy framework. Findings scrutinise the country’s implementation of laws and policies based on the daily life experiences of persons with disabilities. These experiences are used to assess the level of rights violations, the reasons behind those violations, and possible solutions. This holistic report offers an in-depth analysis of the life circumstances for persons with disabilities, with a specific focus on employment. The analysis has been conducted in relation to fundamental human rights principles of dignity, autonomy, participation, inclusion and accessibility, non-discrimination and equality and respect for difference. The report highlights the degree of implementation of the constitution, laws, policies and programs, enacted to protect and advance the human rights, and specifically the employment rights, of persons with disabilities. The report also highlights the experiences of persons with disabilities with reflection of societal attitudes. 

This study is part of a larger initiative called the DRPI AWARE (Asian Workplace Approach that Respects Equality) project. In each of the three monitoring sites (Hyderabad, Dhaka, Kathmandu), monitors used an interview and focus group guide to capture a specialized data set and analyze violations of the right to work and employment.

In 2015, Humanity & Inclusion HI began the project: “Empowering persons with disabilities to contribute to equal access to basic social services and local policymaking processes in under-resourced areas of Ayeyarwady and Mandalay”. The project supported Disabled Peoples Organizations and other civil society groups to participate in the development of inclusive regional policies and programmes, and to promote good practices contributing to greater access to services for persons with disabilities. An aim was also to document, publish and disseminate these good practices throughout Myanmar, increasing awareness and understanding in order to sensitise people to disability inclusion and influence policy change. Rather than focusing on what is not working, this report seeks to shift attention to what has worked locally and how it could be replicated in other parts of the country, providing constructive, practical recommendations to decision-makers, service providers and other community groups in Myanmar. The report is related to two projects. The second is “Advocacy for Change: Fostering protection and rights of men and women with disabilities in Myanmar”. 

There are global recommendations. There are seven good practices:

• Related to education:  Case Study I: Promoting Inclusion of children with disabilities in Middle Schools of Ayartaw. Case Study II: How the development of the teacher training promotes inclusion of all children in education
• Related to economic life: Case Study III: How partnerships between private companies and organizations of people with disabilities can improve access to employment and vocational training
• Related to social/community life: Case Study IV: Giving the Myanmar Deaf Community access to information.  Case Study V: How parental advocacy can make a difference
• Related to political life: Case Study VI: Community advocacy in obtaining the National Registration Card. Case Study VII: Supporting people with disabilities to participate in Myanmar elections

The findings of the research presented in this paper come in the aftermath of a momentous year for Colombia, a year that saw a historic peace deal signed between the government and the biggest left-wing guerrilla group (FARC) with the aim of bringing an over 50 year civil war to a long awaited conclusion. At a time when the Colombian people are being required to genuinely reflect on what inclusion means to them and how best they can achieve it within their deeply diverse society, I present findings from an ethnographic research that I conducted on inclusion in education focusing on the capital, Bogotá. The research foci were a) inclusive education in practice, b) teacher preparation for inclusive education, and c) local understanding of inclusive education. Findings include a local understanding of inclusive education as synonymous with disability, special teachers as synonymous with inclusive education in practice, and big gaps in teacher preparation for inclusive education. Based on these findings, I emphasise that inclusive education is a global North-created concept, which can acquire different meanings in global South contexts, and I argue that Colombia in particular needs time to make its own understanding of inclusive education a priority.

Disability and the Global South, 2018 Vol.5, No. 1