ICT Tools as Provision for Information to the Visually Impaired Persons in Lagos State Special Libraries

The rapid development in technology has transformed all spheres of life. Information Communication Technology has revolutionaries the accessibility and use of information resources in the contemporary world. However, people who are visually impaired encounter challenges in accessing information resources and services in the libraries especially ICT and it is as a result of their customised library collections being mostly in Braille formats. Provision of ICT tools for the visually impaired has received tremendous attention all over the world. Information resources for the visually impaired are converted into formats that are usable to them; these formats include Braille, talking books/audio recordings and large prints to meet their information needs which are the manual format of information source. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Total enumeration sampling technique was used. Data were collected with the use of a structured questionnaire that was converted into Google form on ICT Tools as Provision for Information to the Visually Impaired Persons in Lagos State Special Libraries. The population of this study comprised of 104 of all the visually impaired using the two special libraries in Lagos state. Frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation, were used to analyse the data. The result shows that the Assignment, Health and Scholarship are the major information needs of Visually Impaired Persons. The result also show that Speech synthesis (x = 1.92), Computers (x = 1.92) was ranked highest majorly, Internet connectivity (x = 1.81), speech-to-text engine (x = 1.75) and Retina implant (x = 1.09) were ICT tools available for the visually impaired. The result also show that lack of marketing of library services to the visually impaired, inadequate funds to acquire individual ICT tools and Lack of awareness were the major challenge encountered by Visually Impaired students. In conclusion Libraries meant for people with special needs should provide enough ICT tools to the visually impaired to meet their needs. Recommended that library should train staff on how to assist the visually impaired persons on the usage of the ICT tools available in the library. Library should make available ICT tools visually impaired students

Key issues in rural health: perspectives of health service providers in Queensland

The Centre for Rural and Remote Area Health (CRRAH) held interactive research workshops in eight towns in Southern Queensland. The purpose of the workshops was to determine what health providers considered were major issues affecting their service and for these results to inform future research strategy of CRRAH. Over 150 organisations identified as either providing health services or having a significant interest in health provision in one or more of the targeted towns were invited to attend. The workshops used the nominal group technique to identify what the participants considered were key health issues in the geographical area in which they worked. These issues were then prioritised by the participants. Thematic analysis of the issues generated a ranking of themes by importance. Results were compared with a similar exercise undertaken in 2003. Participants from organisation directly involved with health care were complemented at the workshops by representatives from local government, the police service and church groups. A total of 85 participants representing 47 services and 41 different organisations attended the eight workshops. Issues generated by the participants were pooled into seventeen themes. Workforce issues were by far the major concern of health providers. Recruitment and retention of health workers were a major concern. The other four highest ranked themes across all workshops were mental health, access to health services, perceptions and expectations of consumers of health services and interagency cooperation. Aged care was an additional theme that generated a lot of concern at several of the workshops. The workshops provided important information to CRRAH for developing research strategy. Additionally, several new alliances among health providers were developed which will support sharing of information and resources. The workshops enabled rural and remote organisations to meet and identify the key health issues and supported research planning. Much need alliances among health providers were forged and collaborative research avenues are being explored. The workshop forum is an excellent means of information exchange

Current Developments in Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities

[Taken from Executive Summary] This literature review is the culmination of the Saskatchewan Community Living Division jurisdictional study which began in the autumn of 2003. Following a brief survey of developments in providing services to people with intellectual disabilities (hitherto the People) for creating the questionnaire for this study, information was gleaned from the provinces and territories on their services. The CLD Jurisdictional Project was completed in the spring of 2005. Subsequently, a thorough search and examination of pertinent resources for serving this People and for policy development was conducted. From over 800 documents about 350 were selected for this literature review. The material is recorded in the following chapters: Public Consultation and Policy Development; Social Philosophy: the philosophical influence on contemporary social issues; Definition of disabilities; Needs assessment systems; Human Rights; Advocacy; Community services & Deinstitutionalization; Issues and Influences; Citizenship; Inclusion; Self-determination; Person-centered planning; Supports; Respite; Individualized funding; Canadian governmental initiatives; Provincial Services

The experiences of people with disabilities during their integration and retention into employment in South Africa

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The aim of this thesis is to identify the employment integration and retention experiences of people with disabilities in South Africa. The objectives of the study are to examine factors that influence these experiences. These factors include the time of onset of a person’s disability, the education the person received, the integration and retention phases of employment and attitudes towards disability in the workplace

Community Action Research in Disability (CARD): An Inclusive Research Programme in Uganda

The ideology of Emancipatory Disability Research (EDR) reflected in the phrase ‘Nothing about us without us’, was first put forward in the 1990s. Although it aimed to place research control in the hands of the ‘researched’, i.e., people with disability, this rarely happens even today, 25 years later. The Community Action Research on Disability (CARD) programme in Uganda embraced and modified the EDR approach, recognising the need for including people with disability in the research process from concept to outcome, and nurturing participation and collaboration between all the stakeholders in achieving action-based research. The research teams always included people with disability and staff from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) as well as academics and service providers. It endeavoured to generate and carry out research around issues that mattered to people with disability and their families. Leadership roles were assigned by team members. The objectives of the CARD programme were: (1) to fund teams to carry out action-based research on disability in Uganda; (2) to develop research and administrative capacity to manage the initiative within the academic registrar’s office at Kyambogo University; (3) to incorporate new knowledge generated from the studies into the ongoing local community-based rehabilitation and special education courses; and, (4) to ensure wide dissemination of research findings to all stakeholder groups. CARD ran for 5 years, commissioning 21 action research studies in the field of disability and community-based services. This paper describes the process, presents the 12 completed studies, examines the extent to which the objectives were achieved and evaluates the experiences of the participating research teams, particularly in relation to the inclusion of its members with disability. It concludes with recommendations for future initiatives designed to promote validity, good value and inclusive approaches in disability research

Community Action Research in Disability (CARD): An Inclusive Research Programme in Uganda

The ideology of Emancipatory Disability Research (EDR) reflected in the phrase ‘Nothing about us without us’, was first put forward in the 1990s. Although it aimed to place research control in the hands of the ‘researched’, i.e., people with disability, this rarely happens even today, 25 years later. The Community Action Research on Disability (CARD) programme in Uganda embraced and modified the EDR approach, recognising the need for including people with disability in the research process from concept to outcome, and nurturing participation and collaboration between all the stakeholders in achieving action-based research. The research teams always included people with disability and staff from Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) as well as academics and service providers. It endeavoured to generate and carry out research around issues that mattered to people with disability and their families. Leadership roles were assigned by team members. The objectives of the CARD programme were: (1) to fund teams to carry out action-based research on disability in Uganda; (2) to develop research and administrative capacity to manage the initiative within the academic registrar’s office at Kyambogo University; (3) to incorporate new knowledge generated from the studies into the ongoing local community-based rehabilitation and special education courses; and, (4) to ensure wide dissemination of research findings to all stakeholder groups. CARD ran for 5 years, commissioning 21 action research studies in the field of disability and community-based services. This paper describes the process, presents the 12 completed studies, examines the extent to which the objectives were achieved and evaluates the experiences of the participating research teams, particularly in relation to the inclusion of its members with disability. It concludes with recommendations for future initiatives designed to promote validity, good value and inclusive approaches in disability research