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Inclusion, access, and accessibility of educational resources in higher education institutions: exploring the Ethiopian context

BEYENE, Wondwossen Mulualem
MEKONNEN, Abraham Tulu
GIANNOUMIS, George Anthony
2020

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The right of persons with disabilities for equal access to education and educational resources is enshrined by international and country-specific anti-discrimination laws. Taking the Ethiopian context as an example, this paper sought to identify barriers of access to educational resources and explored ways for removing them. Seventeen students with visual impairments studying at Hawassa University were selected for semi-structured interviews. Moreover, five individuals working at the disability centre and the university library were interviewed. The results of the interviews were analysed thematically using the International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities and Health (ICF) as a framework. Access and accessibility problems that emanate from the learners’ diverse background, lack of educational resources in alternative formats, lack of institutional tools (policy, procedure, guidelines, etc.) to bridge the gap between law and practice, and the digital divide were among the problems identified and discussed. At the end, the paper showed how libraries, revitalised as learning and information commons, could help to ensure the accessibility of educational resources and help learners with disabilities to acquire skills that may help them in their studies and their future undertakings.

Agriculture and mobile-based interventions for smallholder farmers: best practice on disability inclusion, Disability Inclusion Helpdesk Research Report No. 14

AHLENBÄCK, Veronica
LEE, Harri
COE, Sue
May 2019

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This rapid review addresses the questions: What is current best practice in addressing disability and including people with disabilities within agricultural development programming? What is current best practice in mobile agriculture programming (i.e. mobile-based interventions targeted at smallholder farmers) to include smallholder farmers with disabilities as well as empower them and address key barriers they are facing? 

Development and functional demonstration of a wireless intraoral inductive tongue computer interface for severely disabled persons

STRUIJK, Lotte N S Andreasen
LONTIS, Eugen R
GAIHEDE, Michael
CALTENCO, Hector A
LUND, Morten Enemark
SCHIOELER, Henrik
BENTSEN, Bo
2016

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Purpose: Individuals with tetraplegia depend on alternative interfaces in order to control computers and other electronic equipment. Current interfaces are often limited in the number of available control commands, and may compromise the social identity of an individual due to their undesirable appearance. The purpose of this study was to implement an alternative computer interface, which was fully embedded into the oral cavity and which provided multiple control commands.

 

Methods: The development of a wireless, intraoral, inductive tongue computer was described. The interface encompassed a 10-key keypad area and a mouse pad area. This system was embedded wirelessly into the oral cavity of the user. The functionality of the system was demonstrated in two tetraplegic individuals and two able-bodied individuals

 

Results: The system was invisible during use and allowed the user to type on a computer using either the keypad area or the mouse pad. The maximal typing rate was 1.8 s for repetitively typing a correct character with the keypad area and 1.4 s for repetitively typing a correct character with the mouse pad area.

 

Conclusion: The results suggest that this inductive tongue computer interface provides an esthetically acceptable and functionally efficient environmental control for a severely disabled user.

World youth report 2003 : the global situation of young people

UNITED NATIONS. Department for Economic and Social Affairs
Ed
2004

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Overall, young people today are better off than previous generations, but many are still severely hindered by a lack of education, poverty, health risks, unemployment and the impact of conflict. The World Youth Report 2003 provides an overview of the global situation of young people. The first ten chapters focus on the priority areas of education, employment, extreme poverty, health issues, the environment, drugs, delinquency, leisure time, the situation of girls and young women, and youth participation in decision-making as identified by the World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) adopted by the General Assembly in 1995. The remaining five chapters address some of the newer issues that were later identified as additional priorities for youth and were adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2003

Disabled people and the internet : experiences, barriers and opportunities

PILLING, Doria
BARRET, Paul
FLOYD, Mike
2004

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This report explores how provision of goods and services over the Internet affects people’s lives. While the Internet might have some capability to provide goods, services and communication at a distance, improving access in doing so, some research findings in the early days of e-commerce suggested diminished access for some groups.
This research focuses on the impact of the Internet on people with disabilities. There is the possibility that provision of information and services through the Internet might actually narrow rather than widen choices, because it might lead to the phasing out of traditional ways of providing services preferred by some disabled people

Information and communication technologies and poverty reduction in Sub Saharan Africa : a learning study (synthesis)

GERSTER, Richard
ZIMMERMAN, Sonja
2003

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A report of the learning study carried out as part of the Building Digital Opportunities (BDO) programme.The study focuses on mapping the experiences of BDO partners with ICTs and poverty reduction in order to enable BDO partners to improve their understanding of the role of ICTs in poverty reduction and play a pro-poor role in multilateral forums like the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It draws on research into the use of information and communication technology in Mali, Uganda and Zambia, and examines progress in fulfilling BDO's global objective to ensure that such technology contributes to the achievement of the 8 Millenium Development Goals and 17 Millenium Development Targets

Information and communication technologies and disability in developing countries : a technical note

SANDHU, Jim S
SAARNIO, Ilkka
WIMAN, Ronald
2001

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This study highlights the role information and communication technologies (ICT) can play in the fight against poverty of disabled people in developing countries. The study addresses the possibilities and barriers ICT can cause for disabled people. It shows the role ICT can play in the provision of services and information for disabled people in the context of middle and low income countries

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