Helping People with Disabilities & Others Find Life-Changing Assistive Technology in Southern Africa

Imagine you are a local person somewhere in Chitipa District, a rural location in Malawi. You are involved in an accident which results in an injury that causes some form of physical disability requiring a wheelchair.

In the absence of a directory of Assistive Technology (AT) listings in Malawi, you have to travel some 400 km away to Lilongwe, the capital city, to literally search for an affordable but appropriate wheelchair.

But what’s irritating is that, in a country that is one of the poorest in the world with over 50 percent of the population living below the poverty line and 25 percent living in extreme poverty, you would have to be lucky to afford transport and accommodation to make the trip to Lilongwe.

What’s even more frustrating is that even if you were able to afford the bus trip – the cheapest mode of transport in a country that still doesn’t boast a proper train system – you would unlikely find the suitable wheelchair within a day. Maybe two days. Maybe three... if you are fortunate to even find it at all within the borders of Malawi!

Apparently, this is a familiar scenario across all countries in Southern Africa.

Whether it is an NGO that is looking for an expert that can repair its Braille embosser to enable it print some of its advocacy materials in accessible format for people with visual impairment; or you’re a Community Rehabilitation Officer somewhere in Sofala Province in Mozambique faced with a challenge to help a person with hearing impairment find a low-cost but durable hearing aid that can work in a typical rural setting without electricity grid.

The challenges are the same!

The NGO in Botswana has to call a Braille technician all the way from South Africa, as in Botswana it's been hard to find such expertise, if it exists.

On the other hand, the rehab officer in Sofala Province might not even find the proper hearing aid in Maputo, over 1000 kilometers away. Because he may not even know that it is in Botswana where a company called Deaftronics happens to be the first to pioneer the first ever battery charge unit for hearing aid.

Somehow, these challenges would be addressed if such information was readily available in some kind of regional directory; whether in print, website, or mobile application.

Furthermore, access to such information would be the first - but not only - logical step in increasing access to AT for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). In Southern Africa, it is estimated that 85-95% of PWDs who need AT do not have access.

AT includes a wide range of technology products that are used to support persons with disabilities as they work, learn, play and live in their communities. Some examples of AT include: crutches, wheelchairs, ramps, hearing aids, Braille printers, adaptive software, communication devices, just to mention a few.

Improving access to AT is a problem that will take concerted effort on many fronts; however, one key challenge has been the lack of information about where appropriate AT is available and awareness of what constitutes AT.

The Solution: Our Unique Story

George Kayange presenting the AT-Info-Map project at a webinar in Feb 2019

A mobile app and website database called 'AT-Info-Map' is being implemented by Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) to collect and disseminate information on the availability of Assistive Technology (AT) within 10 countries in Southern Africa.

The Android version of the mobile app can be accessed on Google Play Store while the iOS version can be downloaded from the App Store. More information about the apps can be read here: https://www.atinfomap.org/app.html.

Alternatively, the web-based database can be accessed through this URL: https://www.assistivetechmap.org/

Initially financed by Google.org from March 2016 to February 2019, the Assistive Technology Information Mapping (AT-Info-Map) project was established to help PWDs find suppliers and services of AT easily.

In this way, the project would help to reduce on the cost of traveling long distances from far-away rural locations (sometimes as far as 1,000 km within a country) to urban centers where they can find the AT they need.

Managing this project at SAFOD with a team from the University of Washington and the African Network for Evidence-to-Action on Disability (AfriNEAD) has been a massive inspiration.

When we all started the project over four years ago, the aim was primarily to develop a mobile app to map the current availability of different types of AT in ten countries in Southern Africa, and work with local disability organizations to address gaps in AT availability.

The rationale at the time was that identifying what types of AT were available and where those products were located would help to connect PWDs to the available AT near their community; to support key actors – such as public AT providers like clinics, community health centers, secondary and tertiary hospitals, schools as well as civil society, government, NGOs, businesses and disabled people's organizations (DPOs) – in identifying AT needs; and to inform AT suppliers, manufacturers, and designers of unmet public demand.

Today, the AT-Info-Map project has now grown rapidly to also include not only the AT web database, but also a series of national AT awareness seminars, workshops and a webinar, as well as the regional AT Exhibition that was scheduled to take place this year in Windhoek, Namibia, now postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Assistive Technology EXPO (SAATE) would bring together a wide range of practical problem solvers of AT, including manufacturers, suppliers and service providers from Southern Africa with the overall goal of increasing awareness of different types of AT and where they are available.

The International Development Context

Without access to AT, PWDs are less likely to realize many basic human rights, suh as access to education, healthcare, employment, information, and activities of daily living. The project is helping in achieving a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goal #4 on equal and accessible education, Goal #8 on inclusive economic growth, and the others.

We work with local and international disability organizations and other development-focused players to address gaps in AT availability and collaborate with stakeholders on increasing public AT awareness.

Through this unique project, we seek to contribute towards the goal of the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology of reaching half billion people globally by 2030 with life-changing AT.

We also align our project with other Global AT initiatives like the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) championed by the World health Organization (WHO).