The objectives of the studies included:

• Investigating daily life and the challenges faced in social, economic, educational and other critical aspects in the lives of persons with disabilities
• Mapping the use of ICT as assistive tech, and for recreational and informational purposes, by persons with disabilities; assessing the disabled communities’ understanding of, and expectations of, ICT;
• Comparing different types of impairments and socio-economic categories
• Reviewing user experiences of those using ICT and Assistive Technologies
• Understanding the barriers to the use of ICT for the disabled community
• Identifying and mapping the key themes around the challenges and opportunities

Data collection tools

We mostly used qualitative methods of research, to understand disability as a complex of experiences in different domains of everyday life.

Focused ethnographies were conducted in India and Sri Lanka, first day involved understanding the respondents’ daily living challenges in the home environment, and the second day involved a public life exercise where the researcher shadowed the respondent in a public space to understand the challenges in the external environment. In both engagements, we attempted to understand how the respondents navigated built structures, transport ecosystems, and other barriers, with or without the assistance of technology.

In-depth-interviews were conducted to understand the life experiences and challenges of people with disabilities, map their use of ICT in daily life, and collect data using semi-structured and pre-identified areas of inquiry.

Key informant interviews were conducted to get a macro understanding about disability issues in India and Sri Lanka views on latest policy work, and other developments in the field.

Separate focus group discussions with each of the three disabled groups (visual, hearing, and mobility) were conducted, to understand what the experiences and expectations associated with specific disability types.

Documents

• Designing Policy Centric Disability Research in Resource Constrained Settings in the Global South: A Review of Key Concepts

  In this literature review, our aim is to contextualize these in the wider arena of disability studies in the Global South. In doing so, we intend to connect the policy research with the theoretical and policy debates about disability emerging from the Global South.

• Qualitative findings onpersons with disabilities and independent living (Research Report)

  Qualitative findings on persons with disabilities and independent living

• Accelerating High Impact Assistive Technology for Independent Living (Project Report)

  One out of every forty Indians live with a disability, yet they remain far underrepresented in all segments of daily life: experiencing lack of access to information, living with scarce livelihood opportunities, inaccessible healthcare and assistive caregiving support, confronting stigma in public infrastructure and transport, and non-contextual or unaffordable assistive tech solutions, the rights and diverse concerns of people with disabilities remain underserved. While technology has been an enabler in resolving challenges in human existence, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and Assistive Technologies (AT) have mainly casted exceedingly niche solutions in response to the needs of persons with disabilities. To this effect, despite having a flurry of assistive tech solutions, most of them only partially meet the requirements of persons with disabilities at best and fail to achieve higher impact, as often users are forced to adopt more than one solution to actualise their potential. Such approaches to solution building underline the gaps and deficiencies inherent in the disability ecosystem that go beyond the challenges of underserved financing ie. limited demand side insights and infrastructure, a distance of dialogue between persons with disabilities and stakeholders and severely under-developed capacity for service delivery and scaling solutions. A consortium between Vihara, and […]

• Innovations for Independent Living among People with Disabilities in India (Report)

  Report of a study of ICT use among PWD in India, conducted for LIRNEasia by VIHARA

More Documents →

Events

• Qualitative findings onpersons with disabilities and independent living (Research Report)
  Qualitative findings on persons with disabilities and independent living
• Access to Services during COVID-19 in “Digital India” launched
  LIRNEasia and ICRIER jointly released the findings of a nationally representative, 7000+ sample survey assessing access to services during COVID-19 in India.
• Disability Innovation Pre-Accelerator Lab in India
  The Disability Innovation Pre-Accelerator Lab which was held as a virtual event from 10th August to 26th August was successfully completed.

More Events →

People

Babu Ram Aryal

Dilshan Fernando

Gayashi Jayasinghe

Htaike Htaike Aung

Isuru Samaratunga

Nirmita Narasimhan

Tharaka Amarasinghe

Advisory Board

Nirmita Narasimhan

Jayna Kothari

Kasthuri Sridhar

Poonam Natarajan

Blogs and Updates

• Designing Policy Centric Disability Research in Resource Constrained Settings in the Global South: A Review of Key Concepts
  In this literature review, our aim is to contextualize these in the wider arena of disability studies in the Global South.
• Qualitative findings onpersons with disabilities and independent living (Research Report)
  Qualitative findings on persons with disabilities and independent living
• Access to Services during COVID-19 in “Digital India” launched
  LIRNEasia and ICRIER jointly released the findings of a nationally representative, 7000+ sample survey assessing access to services during COVID-19 in India.
• Accelerating High Impact Assistive Technology for Independent Living (Project Report)
  One out of every forty Indians live with a disability, yet they remain far underrepresented in all segments of daily life: experiencing lack of access to information, living with scarce livelihood opportunities, inaccessible healthcare and assistive caregiving support, confronting stigma in public infrastructure and transport, and non-contextual or unaffordable assistive tech solutions, the rights and diverse concerns of people with disabilities remain underserved.
• Disability Innovation Pre-Accelerator Lab in India
  The Disability Innovation Pre-Accelerator Lab which was held as a virtual event from 10th August to 26th August was successfully completed.
• Safety-II concepts succeed in Empowering People With Disabilities in Crises
  The impact of disaster on a disabled person’s health is significant, including the number of People With Disability (PWD) deaths, injuries, diseases, and psychosocial problems.
• Disability Innovations Pre-Accelerator Labs: Virtual Workshop| 10th August – 26th August 2020
  LIRNEasia has partnered with Vihara Innovation Network to set up a Disability Innovation Pre-Accelerator Lab from 10th August – 26th August 2020.
• Innovations for Independent Living among People with Disabilities in India (Report)
  Report of a study of ICT use among PWD in India, conducted for LIRNEasia by VIHARA
• Living with disability: tales of contrast
  Living with disability from birth has helped Rajan develop a “can-do” attitude towards living an active and independent life.
• Social Innovation with impact
  Abstract from a talk given by Rohan Samarajiva
• Convenience and disclosure of disability
  What one man's daily commute can tell us about the benefits and discomforts of disclosing one's disability