Disability

LIRNEasia’s engagements on disabilities and assistive technologies began in 2015 when we conducted our first study on persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Myanmar to understand the accessibility challenges of ICT use by PWDs.

Working with Disabled Persons Organizations, and in collaboration with our local partners, LIRNEasia identified policy and practical solutions to these problems, in particular solutions enabled by Myanmar’s rapid take-up of smartphones. The recommendations were disseminated widely, to 23 Members of Parliament from the Myanmar Union Parliament, Members of the Yangon Regional Parliament, and the local media.

LIRNEasia repeated the exercise in Nepal in 2017-19, conducting a qualitative study to understand the challenges faced by PWDs. This was supplemented with two additional steps: a nationally representative (quantitative) survey on PWDs which explored their experiences and quantified PWDs by type of disability, barriers and other variables related to education, transport and livelihood, and a hackathon that yielded two mobile apps that could assist those with speech/hearing disabilities.

Working with our local partners, LIRNEasia proposed simple, immediately actionable ways to promote independent living by PWDs with the release of eight white papers to support our engagements with key policy stakeholders in May 2019 in Nepal.

Through our current research cycle, we are seeking to replicate this exercise in Sri Lanka and India. We seek to build on this work by not just prototyping assistive digital solutions for PWDs, but also catalyzing the roll out at scale by connecting developers with social impact investors.

Documents

Comments on the proposed new regulations on integrated financial consumer protection framework for entries regulated by Financial Consumer Relations Department of Central Bank of Sri Lanka

LIRNEasia’s comments on the proposed new regulations on integrated financial consumer protection framework seek to promote financial inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD). These comments are based on insights derived from multiple quantitative and qualitative research projects on PWD by LIRNEasia
#HomeBasedFlexiworkInCovid19 : Joint LIRNEasia, CPR and JustJobs Network panel at 2022 Internet Research Conference

Senior research managers Gayani Hurulle and Ayesha Zainudeen recently shared insights on the experience of women in India and Sri Lanka working remotely and flexibly during the pandemic at a jointly organised by LIRNEasia, the Centre for Policy Research (New Delhi) and the JustJobs Network at the 2022 Internet Research Conference (organised by the Centre for Internet and Society, CIS). LIRNEasia has been working with CPR and JJN over the last two and a half years on research on if and how digital platforms are empowering women with regards to work opportunities in India and Sri Lanka. The panel was moderated by Sabina Dewan (President and Executive Director, JJN) with panellists bringing in different perspectives and data. Devesh Taneja (Co-Founder, Vyre) started the discussion off with an overview of the platform ecosystem, business models and incentives. Gayani presented data on the gendered incidence and perceptions of remote work during COVID from our nationally representative surveys of the impacts of COVID in the two countries. Both Mukta Naik (Fellow, CPR) and Ayesha then brought in insights from our joint research Ecosystems of Engagement: Digital Platform and Women’s Work in Sri Lanka and India, with Mukta speaking about empowerment impacts and Ayesha […]
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.
ICT access and use by Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Sri Lanka (Presentation – Tamil)

ICT access and use by Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Sri Lanka
ICT access and use by Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Sri Lanka (Presentation – Sinhala)

ICT access and use by Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Sri Lanka
Qualitative findings onpersons with disabilities and independent living (Research Report – Tamil)

Qualitative findings on persons with disabilities and independent living
Qualitative findings onpersons with disabilities and independent living (Research Report – Sinhala)

Qualitative findings on persons with disabilities and independent living
Expert Forum on policy-relevant research on disability and information & communication technologies (ICTs) – (Event Report)

LIRNEasia’s Disability Research