Development Ratings

Improving mobility for disabled people: Increasing mobility for 60,000 disabled people increases their potential to enter the mainstream, enabling children to go to school and adults to work. It also enables their carers, often women, to return to greater economic activity themselves.

Developing appropriate service provision and local NGO capacity: The correct fitting of mobility aids can be life saving. Training local organisations to provide services, assemble wheelchairs, and plan and budget develops self-sufficiency and improves coverage for the local disabled population.

Increasing economic activity: Adapted equipment, rehabilitation, vocational training, and job seeking and business skills training increase the chances of being able to work and support a family, helping to break the poverty cycle. New skills can be learnt, or new ways of carrying out a previously known skill.

Reducing stigma and raising awareness: Spreading awareness of the rights of disabled people helps reduce the cultural taboos and misinformation around households with disabled family members.

Developing national policy: Pressuring policy makers has improved disabled access to public buildings in Sri Lanka. Consultations with the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments are under way to improve legislation involving disabled people. Accessibility audits have been carried out for local NGOs, public service providers and other organisations. Motivation aims to change negative perceptions, and impact change in society, poverty and development through inclusion of the disabled.