By Timothy Egwelu —
What you need to know:
The limited accessibility of market products and services in comparison to relative need demonstrates the lack of awareness.
Great strides have been made in developing technologies that assist disabled people.
Braille readers, hearing aids and mobility devices have all improved immensely the lives of disabled people.
But as a recent report confirms, there are wide disparities between rich and poorer countries on access to these innovations, collectively called “Assistive Technology.”
In the global north, 90 percent of people living with disability (PWDs) have access to assistive technology while in the global south the figure stands at a mere 3 percent. This statistic is worrisome as 80 percent of the one billion PDWs in the world are in the global south. In Uganda, an estimated 12.4 percent live with some form of disability. The country ratified the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability and its Optional Protocol in 2008, without reservations.
This op-Ed was originally posted on The Daily Monitor on July 1, 2022.