Building skills towards inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene

People with Disabilities

Saturday, November 5, 2011 - Friday, December 16, 2011
Session Overview
Session 3 summary (2 pages) ( 128.33 KB )

People with a disability represent the largest socially excluded group globally and most live without access to basic sanitary services, which can exacerbate impairments and poverty.

This session reviews the WASH needs of people living with disabilities, discusses processes to identify communities’ access needs and introduces the adaptive technologies available for WASH projects. This session is comprised of two webinars.

Download presenters’ slides from Webinars 1 and 2

Please follow links below to access recordings of each of the webinars through the Elluminate webiste.

Session 3: Disability and WASH (Hazel Jones) ( 8.58 MB )

The first webinar, led by Hazel Jones with comments and input from Clare Hanley, introduces the concepts and principlesof accessible and inclusive WASH, highlighting hardware/software issues and the difference between household level and communal facilities, illustrated by images of practical examples.

You can access a recording of Hazel’s webinar by clicking here (Internet Explorer preferred, external site).

Recommended pre-reading resources

Below are supporting texts that help to set the scene for the webinar sessions.

Water and sanitation for disabled people and other vulnerable groups (WEDC, 2005)

Authors: Hazel Jones and Bob Reed (WEDC). The main focus of the book is on facilities for families in rural and peri-urban areas of low- and middle-income countries, but many of the approaches and solutions may also be applied in institutional settings, such as schools and hospitals and in emergency situations.

Ch 2: Why should the water and sanitation sector consider disabled people? ( 2.09 MB )
Ch 9: Case studies - facilities and equipment for accessible WASH Compressed file ( 11.45 MB )

The remaining chapters can be downloaded from the WEDC Knowledge Base. (To download the pdfs you will need to register first, but this is completely free of charge, and will give you access to 1000s more free documents.)

Water, Sanitation and Disability in Rural West Africa: Enhancing Access and Use of WASH Faciltiies. A Summary report of the Mali water and disabilities study (The Hilton Report). (2010)

Author: Ray Norman (Messiah College)

Water, sanitation and disability in rural west Africa ( 3.77 MB )

The Mali Water and Disabilities Study is a project of the Collaboratory at Messiah College which has served to develop low-cost alternatives to improve access to latrines and wells for disabled individuals living in rural communities in southeastern Mali.

Inclusion in Madagascar

Briefing notes
Inclusive design of school latrines – how much does it cost and who benefits? ( 1.89 MB )
Why should the water and sanitation sector consider disabled people? ( 3.50 MB )
Activities
Designing a pit latrine slab - group activity (From Reed, B and Coates, S, 2007) ( 718.05 KB )

Try out this fun activity and post your feedback in the discussion forum (link at top of page). This activity is designed to engage people in discussion of technical issues. Does everyone use a toilet in the same way? What about the disabled, children, elderly and pregnant women? What else are latrines used for?

Session Facilitators

  • Hazel Jones
    Hazel Jones
    Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)

    Hazel Jones is an Assistant Programme Manager at the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University, UK. WEDC is a leading education and research institute concerned with improving access to infrastructure and services – particularly water supply and sanitation – for the poor in low- and middle-income countries.

    Hazel joined WEDC specifically for a research project (funded by DFID) on improving access for disabled people to water supply and sanitation in low-income countries. Current activities include teaching, information dissemination, further research, and collaboration and training with WATSAN agencies to make their services and facilities more accessible and inclusive.

  • Clare Hanley
    CBM-Nossal Institute Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development

    Clare Hanley has a Masters in Development Studies from Melbourne University. She recently joined the CBM-Nossal Partnership after spending a few years at AusAID, primarily working on water and sanitation in Africa. Prior to AusAID, Clare worked in a disability-focused NGO in Melbourne, focusing on improving community attitudes towards mental illness and disability among migrant and refugee communities.

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