Designing future technologies for disabled people in a developing country

Abstract

Both the physical and virtual aspects of our current society are designed for able-bodied people. This means that very often people with disabilities are excluded from participation and faces barriers to living independently. This paper looks at how current urban environments in a developing country can be altered to include people with disabilities and how future urban environments should be designed to bring about an enabling environment. This is done through the use of Information and communication Technologies. Interviews and persona workshops that included people with disabilities were used to inform the design process. This resulted in scenarios that describe a future enabling environment in detail using specific disabilities and available technologies. The paper illustrates that this enabling environment can be implemented today with the right partnerships with government, academia and industry