The project is an applied interdisciplinary research project on the enhancement of competences of people with disabilities in the fields of transport, communication and rehabilitation.
Codenamed; Disability & Technology or D&T project, brings together researchers as PhD students from Uganda and and Switzerland. The project runs from February 2014 to February 2017.
The project conducts 2 schools every year, summer school and winter school. These schools help the researchers to read and discuss several academic papers and concepts for a deeper understanding of their work and developing logical arguments. Being an applied research project, stakeholders’ dialogues and meetings are held, to share with the practitioners on issues arising out of the studies, so as to identify possible practical gaps that can be bridged by the project.
Objectives of the Project
The overall objective of the project is to propose innovative, locally applicable and sustainable ways of enhancing the use of technologies and thereby have a positive impact on the lives of people experiencing disability through careful scrutiny of cases of local disability cultures in view of alternative technology application concepts.
The objectives are:
To produce genuine knowledge about how different kinds of technologies in the field of transport, communication and rehabilitation are appropriated or rejected and affect the social, economic and personal opportunities of people with disabilities in Uganda.
To develop new theoretical and applicable concepts and models of local technology integration for global development strategies.
To enhance the competences of people with disabilities in using technologies to their full potential and develop an accessible environment. In cooperation with stakeholders, research-based intervention strategies will be conceptualized.
PROJECT TEAM
Supervisors
Dr Herbert Muyinda –Supervisor
Dr David Kyadonddo – Supervisor
Gitte Beckmann- Supervisor
Students and their research topics:
Marie Schuler : “Disability in Refugee settlements”
Francesca Rickli ; “Disability and ageing in Switzerland”
Ambrose Murangira ; “Health communication among the Deaf”
Rehema Bavuma : “ageing, disability and technology”
