It is estimated that by 2050 two billion people would benefit from Assistive Technology, yet 90% will not have access.

AT2030 is changing that.

Photo: AJP

It is estimated that by 2050 two billion people would benefit from Assistive Technology, yet 90% will not have access.

AT2030 is changing that.

AT2030 tests ‘what works’ to improve access to life-changing Assistive Technology (AT) for all; investing £20m over 5 years to support solutions to scale. Led by Global Disability Innovation Hub and funded by UK aid, AT2030 will reach 9 million directly and 20 million more indirectly, driving a lifetime of potential. AT2030 is operational in 35 countries globally.

Spotlight: Inclusive Cities 

This month, our spotlight brings attention to inclusive and resilient cities! As the world gets warmer, and as tides rise, there is an increasing need to talk about how we build in resiliance to our infrastructure - a necessary conversation but also one that needs to include disability. To start this concersation, a new report by AT2030's subprogramme, Inclusive Infrastructure, examines Varanasi, India, and highlights some of the accessibility challenges and potential solutions.  

Read the report and find out how we can make the future more inclusive for everyone. 

A group of Indian people sit together at the bottom of chapel steps surrounded by broken and up ended paving stones
Credit: NIUA, AT2030

Programme Clusters

The programme is divided into four Programme Clusters to test ‘what works’ for AT

1
Data & Evidence
2
Innovation
3
Country Implementation
4
Capacity & Participation

GDI Hub is a founding partner in the #WeThe15 Movement

The GDI Hub is playing a key role in the ten-year #WeThe15 campaign, which champions inclusion for the 15% of the global population living with disabilities.

Find out more about #WeThe15.

Latest

  • Inclusive Design and Accessibility of the Built Environment in Varanasi, India

    Mikaela Patrick, Iain McKinnon, Satish Mishra, Shivani Gupta, Prabha Roy, Utsav Choudhury, Kavita Murugkar, Gaurav Raheja
    Oct. 13, 2021
    India
    PDF

    The purpose of this case study is to explore the state of inclusive and accessible environments for persons with disabilities in Varanasi, India, through engagement with policy, industry and community stakeholders (policy, practice and people). Through this engagement, the case study is developing evidence on the challenges and opportunities for implementing inclusive and accessible design in Varanasi and makes recommendations on local actions towards becoming a more inclusive city.

  • Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products: A systematic review protocol

    Jamie Danemayer, Dorothy Boggs, Vinicius Delgado Ramos, Emma M. Smith, Ariana Kular, William Bhot, Felipe Ramos Barajas, Sarah Polack, Catherine Holloway
    Sept. 20, 2021
    Global
    PDF

    This systematic review collates data extracted from 207 studies, presenting indicators of population-level access to AT globally.

  • Assistive Technology Capacity Assessment (ATA-C) Instruction Manual

    Global Disability Innovation Hub, Clinton Health Access Initiative, World Health Organization
    Sept. 14, 2021
    Global
    PDF

    The Assistive Technology Capacity Assessment (ATA-C) tool has been developed to help understand the AT sector at national and subnational level using the 5P framework. The aim is to assist local stakeholders in collecting information to build up a comprehensive understanding of a country’s capacity to regulate, finance, procure and provide AT to meet national needs appropriately. This in turn can inform decision-making, strengthen the AT sector and improve access to AT.

  • “When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

    Giulia Barbareschi, Mark T. Carew, Elizabeth Aderonke Johnson, Norah Kopi, Catherine Holloway
    Aug. 3, 2021
    Kenya
    Publisher Link

    This paper addresses the gap in research on the factors that shape the experience of disability stigma including social interactions and AT use in Kenya. Via a series of focus groups with Kenyans without disabilities (Study 1) and secondary data analysis of consultations with Kenyans with disabilities and their allies (Study 2), we identify shared and divergent understandings of what shapes disability stigma and discrimination and highlight assistive technology as an influential factor that served to identify or “mark” someone as having a disability.

  • Press release: IPC–led partnership secures a record breaking 49 territories for free-to-air African broadcast coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

    Global Disability Innovation Hub, Loughborough University
    Aug. 19, 2021
    Africa

    The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has confirmed that it will provide free-to-air coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games to 49 Sub-Saharan African territories as part of the AT2030 programme’s Para Sport Against Stigma project, which is funded by UK Aid.  This is an effort to elevate Para sport and ensure human rights for people with disabilities around the world.  Globally, there are 1.2 billion people with disabilities who are often unable to reach their full potential. Central to this is disability stigma, which limits full participation in society from employment and education to sport.

  • Record 49 territories for free-to-air African broadcast coverage of Paralympic Games

    The International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
    Aug. 17, 2021
    Africa
    Publisher Link

    The International Committee for Paralympics (IPC) has confirmed that 49 Sub-Saharan African territories will be provided free-to-air coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as part of the AT2030 programme's ParaSport Against Stigma Project. For the first time, African viewers will watch the opening and closing ceremonies broadcast live on 24 August and 5 September 2021.  Daily 52-minute highlights packages of African centred content featuring the continent’s biggest Paralympic heroes and rising stars, will be provided in English, French and Portuguese. It is estimated that the broadcasts will reach over 250 million viewers in Africa.

  • New report calls for global action for children and adults with clubfoot

    Miracle Feet
    Aug. 2, 2021
    Global
    Publisher Link

    A new report by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) for AT2030, a UK Aid-funded program led by the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), aims to drive progress for children and adults with clubfoot to reach their full potential.

  • An online launch of the WHO and UNICEF procurement manual for assistive products, accessories, spare parts, and related services

    World Health Organization, UNICEF
    July 7, 2021
    Global
    Publisher Link

    On 06 July 2021, an online event was held to launch the WHO and UNICEF manual for public procurement of assistive products, accessories, spare parts, and related services. This manual focuses on public procurement and specifically on tendering (competition) for assistive products, accessories, spare parts and related services, hereafter called assistive products. The manual is based on procuring these products from manufacturers, or one of their economic operators, called suppliers.

  • Innovation Podcast

    Global Disability Innovation Hub, University College London, Giulia Barbareschi, Government of Kenya, ALL Institute (Maynooth University), UK Aid, UCL, Rhys Williams, Dr Rhys Williams, Institute of Making
    Feb. 15, 2021
    Global

    A podcast featuring interviews and stories from the brains behind the disruptive and cutting-edge innovations that are aiming to impact the lives of millions of people living in different areas of the world.

  • Can Paralympic sport break down barriers to assistive technology use in Africa?

    Nyasha Mharakurwa, Stacy Konadu Mensah, Patrick Yaw Obeng
    Sept. 13, 2021
    Africa

    In this blog, Nyasha Mharakurwa, a wheelchair tennis player and London 2012 Paralympian from Zimbabwe, Stacy Konadu Mensah, a wheelchair tennis player from Ghana, and Patrick Yaw Obeng, a para-athlete from Ghana share their reflections and experiences of barriers to assistive technology access and how Para sports can help break down these barriers for disabled people in Africa.

  • Unlocking the potential of the Paralympics: Para Sport Against Stigma

    Dr. Jessica Noske Turner (LU London), Prof. Mufunanji Magalsi (UofMalawi), Sheila Mogalo (IPC Consultant)
    Aug. 17, 2021
    Africa
    Publisher Link

    Community engagement is indispensable to realising the potential impact of the Paralympic Games in different African contexts. The Para Sport Against Stigma project is using action research with partners to try out different approaches in practice to develop a knowledge pool for the kinds of community engagement processes that could ground the Paralympics in diverse contexts across the ‘arc’ of the Games cycle: the lead up, the main event, and the legacy of this year’s Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games.

  • The Launch of the Clubfoot Product Narrative

    Miracle Feet, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Frederic Seghers
    July 29, 2021
    Global

    This blog highlights the need for appropriately resourced and accessible clubfoot treatment programmes around the world. Through this story meet Quraish who shares his experience of the impact early treatment had on his life. Born with clubfoot, a birth defect in which one or both feet are turned inward and downward, it wasn’t until Quraish was four years old that his parents found treatment for his condition. “It changed my life forever,” he says. “I can wear shoes, run like any person can.” Now, with an accounting degree from Makerere University, he wants to pay it forward and help others realize their full potential.

  • International Day of Persons with Disabilities in informal settlements in Sierra Leone and Indonesia

    Dr Ignacia Ossul Vermehren, UCL, Nina Asterina, Kota Kita, Hawanatu Bangura, SLURC
    Dec. 3, 2020
    Sierra Leone, Indonesia

    The 3rd of December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. We reflect on this year’s theme “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World” through DPU’s research “AT2030: Community led solutions” in informal settlements Sierra Leone and Indonesia.

  • Fan Snapshot

    Shujaaz Inc
    June 23, 2021
    Kenya
    PDF

    Fans responses to stories on Shujaaz's social media platforms featuring people with disabilities

  • Brenda's Story

    Humanity & Inclusion
    June 23, 2021
    Uganda
    PDF

    10-year-old Brenda who lives with her mother in Ofua, Rhino Camp, Arua district in Uganda was born with hydrocephalus, a condition in which build-up fluid is stored in the cavities deep within Brenda’s brain. The extra fluid has put pressure on Brenda’s brain which the mother felt would cause damage to her daughter’s brain, as she narrates,” My daughter’s head has enlarged since she was born, she experiences headache, has cognitive difficulties, impaired vision and she has loss coordination and incontinence”.

  • Hakim's Story

    Humanity & Inclusion
    June 23, 2021
    Uganda
    PDF

    Hakim is a 30-year-old male refugee from South Sudan staying in one of the 6 villages that make up Omugo Refugee settlement, the 7th zone in Rhino Camp. AT2030 partner Humanity & Inclusion (HI) has been working with persons with disabilities (PwD) like Hakim since 2018.

  • Vicky's Story

    Humanity & Inclusion
    June 23, 2021
    Uganda
    PDF

    Life in a refugee settlement can be so difficult and challenging. You can imagine how it is like to trek so many kilometres fleeing a conflict from your home country. You can also now imagine the challenges Persons with Disabilities go through 365 days a year. This is twice the suffering experienced by other people, in terms of accessing services, information, the discrimination that comes from being different. 6-year-old Vicky, a resident of Rhino-camp refugee settlement is the second-born in an extended family of eleven. Together with her family members, she fled South Sudan in 2016, when she was only 2 years due to the war.

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