Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
LMIC
Low- and middle-income country
MRC
Medical Review Council (South Africa)
MXit
A popular South African mobile instant messaging tool that
targeted low-end feature phones, unlike WhatsApp being targeted to
smartphones
NRF
National Research Foundation (South Africa)
PC
Personal computer
PD
Participatory design
RLE
Resource-limited environment
SANPAD
South Africa Netherlands research Programme on Alternatives in
Development
SASL
South African Sign Language
SIMBA
Softbridge Instant Messaging Bridging Architecture
SMS
Short message service, or mobile text
THRIP
Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme
TU Delft
Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)
UCT
University of Cape Town
UWC
University of the Western Cape (also in Cape Town)
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol
VRS
Video Relay System
Overview
There are limitations to traditional ethical approaches and procedures when engaged
in assistive technology (AT) research for Deaf people in a developing region.
Nontraditional issues arise as a consequence of employing action research, including
but not limited to how informed consent is construed and obtained; empowerment
of participants to become involved in co-design; awareness of unfamiliar cultural
issues of participants (as opposed to subjects); and accommodating community-
centred, as opposed to person-centred, nuances. This chapter describes AT research
with an entity called Deaf Community of Cape Town (DCCT), a disabled people's
organisation (DPO) that works on behalf of a marginalised community of underedu-
cated, underemployed and semi-literate Deaf people across metropolitan Cape
Town. We describe how nontraditional ethical concerns arose in our experience. We
refl ect on how these ethical issues affect AT design, based on long-term engagement,
and summarise the themes, what we have learned and how we modifi ed our practise,
and, fi nally, offer suggestions to others working on AT in developing regions.
1
Introduction
We conduct assistive technology (AT) research with and for a local Deaf community
in Cape Town, South Africa. The capital 'D' calls attention to a cultural identity and
a preference for using signed language to communicate, in our case South African
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