The Drum Beat 244 - Addressing Disabilities

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This issue of The Drum Beat provides just a sampling of the many initiatives and materials that explore disability-related communication issues. Please search The Communication Initiative site to access many more of these resources.

EXPERIENCES

1. Speaking Up On Disability - Uganda
In 2001, the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda, along with Leonard Cheshire International, Radio for Development, and Action on Disability and Development, initiated a radio-based public education campaign to increase awareness of disability issues. Thirty 30-minute programmes were produced and broadcast on Radio Uganda in an effort to create a regional channel for education and lobbying around disability rights. Listening clubs enabled disabled and non-disabled people to discuss the broadcasts together, to the end of changing attitudes, influencing policy, and building confidence.
Contact Nick Ishmael Perkins impact@amarcafrica.org

2. Tiflolibros - Global
Based in Buenos Aires, this non-profit organisation has developed a digital library for visually impaired Spanish speakers. Created by a group of blind persons in their 20s who wanted to exchange digital books in order to widen their access to culture and education, Tiflolibros has grown to include more than 7,000 books available to more than 900 members. Members' participation is central to the maintenance and expansion of the library.
Contact Pablo Lecuona pablol@tiflolibros.com.ar

3. Disabled Women's Research Project - South Africa
Initiated by the South African NGO Zanempilo Trust, this programme aims to support the personal, social, and economic empowerment of disabled women. Face-to-face workshops are one tool for investigating the barriers hindering social and economic development and uncovering strategies used by other disabled women to overcome these barriers.
Contact info@zanempilo.org.za

4. Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organisation (BERDO) - Bangladesh
This NGO works to foster the development of the visual, physical, intellectual, and speech and hearing impairment community in Bangladesh. BERDO works to create public awareness about the challenges and capacities of this community in an effort to integrate the disabled into mainstream society, ensuring that they enjoy equal rights. Using strategies that include group formation, capacity and leadership development, and a "talking library", BERDO aims to inspire the disabled to seek education and access medical care and employment opportunities.
Contact Md. Saidul Huq berdo@citechco.net

5. Bridge of Hope - Armenia
A non-governmental, non-profit, non-political organisation established in 1996 to help Armenian children with disabilities and their parents overcome their isolation and enable them to participate in and contribute to the community on an equal basis with others. Initiatives include community-based centres, the youth-produced magasine "Sunflower", videos and live theatre, and in-service advocacy and rights-based trainings for educators, parents, and journalists.
Contact bridge@arminco.com

6. DEAFINTL - Global
Established in 1998, this email-based interactive discussion group is designed to enable project coordinators interested in making their efforts more inclusive of deaf participants to share information, resources, and ideas. The ultimate aim is to facilitate the empowerment and social, political, economic, and educational advancement of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in developing countries. The DEAFINTL website is run entirely by volunteers.
Contact Andrea Shettle owner-deafintl@waste.org OR Kara Harkins kharkin@patriot.net

7. Telerehab RERC, South Pacific: Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) - South Pacific
Established to explore the idea that distance need not be an impassable barrier between disabled people and those who have the rehabilitation skills required to meet their needs, RERC uses multimedia communications and virtual reality technologies to extend rehab services to people in the South Pacific who might not otherwise access it under the traditional, face-to-face service delivery model.
Contact Tim Bowman bowmant@allina.com

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Ohio University Survey Closed

Many thanks to the over 500 development professionals from over 80 countries who responded to the 3-month survey and indicated an overwhelming interest in participating in an online training course in communication and development. Communication and Development Studies (CommDev) at Ohio University (USA) is using this input to develop a series of online courses for early 2005.

To follow further developments, visit the CommDev website or write to commdev.online@ohiou.edu

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THINKING

8. Soul Buddyz Evaluation - illustrative results - Impact on destigmatization and tolerance for diversity
34% of rural children with no exposure to TV said they are willing to befriend someone with disabilities; in contrast, 51.3% with no exposure to Soul Buddyz TV (South Africa), 63.8% with lower exposure, and 71.7% with higher exposure did. 52.8% of urban children with no exposure to TV said they are willing to befriend someone with disabilities, whereas 65.2% with no exposure to Soul Buddyz TV, 88% with lower exposure, and 90.6% with higher exposure did.

9. Equity of Access: Adaptive Technology
by Frances S. Grodzinsky
"It is a serious moral problem when a group that can be empowered the most by technology is ignored by the developers". With that statement, Grodzinsky begins her defense of the claim that the disabled must be afforded equal access to online information. She points out that USA universities are obligated to refrain from discriminating against disabled students because they receive federal funding. However, the accommodation required by law is often understood to mean assisted learning only: "students who are physically challenged and those with learning disabilities are not being afforded an equal education if they are not given access to computers which meet their needs, i.e., those that use the latest adaptive technology."

10. Cambodians share in the digital economy
by Patrick Falby
The non-profit organisation Digital Divide Data (DDD) employs the disadvantaged and disabled. One young disabled employee profiled here indicates that she was once hopeless about her future, but "Now at DDD, I think my life is very important. I can get a job and go to university and do something good".

MATERIALS

11. Training Package on Community Home-based Prevention of Disability Due to Lymphatic Filariasis
This 4-part training package - designed for trainers, informal caregivers, and family members - consists of a learner's guide, tutor's guide, flipchart, and poster. WHO indicates that Lymphatic Filariasis (elephantiasis) puts at risk "more than a billion people in more than 80 countries. Over 120 million have already been affected by it, over 40 million of them are seriously incapacitated and disfigured by the disease."

12. Hidden Suffering: Disabilities from Pregnancy and Childbirth in Less Developed Countries
by Lori Ashford
For every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least another 30 suffer serious illness or debilitating injuries, such as anemia, incontinence, chronic pain, or infertility. Ashford claims that these disabilities have received scant attention from policymakers because of a lack of published evidence, and cultural values that teach women to bear burdens in silence.

13. My Wonderful Grandpa
This children's book features a girl living in Vietnam who in many ways resembles other girls, with the exception of her inability to walk because of polio. It positions caregivers as playing a vital role in helping disabled children know they are loved, valued, and able to learn and have fun with other children. In this girl's case, her grandpa assumes that role.

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PULSE POLL

If we can just get the message out there, things will get better, regardless of context.

[For reference, please see The Drum Beat 242]

Do you agree or disagree?

This poll is no longer available. Our apologies. 

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TRENDS

14. Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail
by Dan Moffett
A Department of Education panel has declared approximately 200 TV programmes broadcast in the USA inappropriate for closed captioning. It is denying federal grant requests that would have made shows like the cartoon "Scooby-Doo" accessible to the hearing-impaired.

15. Unique Human-Size Household Robot Developed on MontaVista Linux
Developers envision that 'wakamaru' - a battery-operated robot that moves around on wheels, features continuous access to the Internet, and is equipped with voice and face recognition capabilities - could serve as a helpmate for the disabled. It will be available in the Japanese market first, in 2004, for about 1 million Yen (US$14,250).

16. The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A new look at Internet access and the digital divide
38% of disabled Americans go online, compared to 58% of all Americans; 28% of disabled non-users say their disability makes it difficult or impossible for them to go online. A Braille computer interface costs approximately US$3000.

LINKS

17. Fundación Discar
Based in Argentina; includes a listing of workshops, news, and links to organisations that participate in the application of a programme that integrates people with mental disability into the workforce.

18. Acharya
Multilingual software and online Sanskrit lessons for the disabled; provided by the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras as part of an effort to bring the benefits of ICT to all Indian people. 

19. Mental Disability Advocacy Center
Promotes and protects the human rights and quality of life of people with mental and intellectual disabilities in 28 countries of central and eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Mongolia.

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This issue written by Kier Olsen DeVries.

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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