1. Assistive Technology in Urban Low-Income Communities in Sierra Leone and Indonesia
- Author
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Ossul-Vermehren, Ignacia and Walker, Julian
- Abstract
ICCHP-AAATE 2022 Open Access Compendium "Assistive Technology, Accessibility and (e)Inclusion" Part II / Petz, Andrea ; Hoogerwerf, Evert-Jan ; Mavrou, Katerina, Seite 108-117, There is limited data on the prevalence of disability and need for Assistive Technology (AT) in low-income urban communities in the global South. Given the close association between disability and poverty, and that fact that in many contexts AT users need to pay to secure assistive products, it can be anticipated that residents of such settlements are likely to face particular challenges in accessing AT. This underlines the need for data to inform policy development to extend access to life-changing AT to this population. In order to address this knowledge gap, 4,256 individuals in five urban low-income communities in Sierra Leone and Indonesia were surveyed using the Rapid Assistive Technology Assessment (rATA) tool. Given the specific circumstances of our research population, we also adapted the rATA tool to introduce the category of ‘informal sector’ as an AT provider in the rATA questionnaire. This paper presents our findings on patterns of AT need and access amongst the surveyed population, demonstrating a high level of unmet need, and also highlights the importance of distinguishing the informal sector as a key provider of AT to settlements of the urban poor.
- Published
- 2022
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