Inclusive ICT Research

This workstream will involve a workshop series with a panel of academics and professionals with lived experience of disability. The workshops will investigate the challenges to disability inclusion in ICT and ways to overcome these challenges through adapting the research and innovation processes from the funding cycle to the dissemination of research output and technology innovation.

We are establishing this ICT Research Panel of academics and professionals with lived experience of disability who are passionate about disabled people leading and collaborating in the research and design of assistive technologies. Through knowledge-sharing and learning workshops, the panel will explore the challenges to disability inclusion in ICT and co-create a set of guidelines for ICT researchers working on projects funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The guidelines will be developed to uphold the values of participatory design and co-creation and follow the principle “nothing about us, without us”. Through collaboration with UKRI, we aim to publish these guidelines on the UKRI website to accompany research calls focusing on ICT research

Inclusive ICT Research Panel

Banya Ojok is a 34-year-old Ugandan blind man, and a member of Uganda National Association of the blind (UNAB). He holds a BA degree in community psychology from makerere university in Kampala Uganda and a certificate in capacity building at Egmont hojskolen odder, Denmark. Since 2013, while working independently, in a team or with consultancy firms, Banya has conducted various research and survey studies; developed training and user manuals, seminar and workshop facilitation for civil society organizations in Uganda. Currently, Banya is an assistive technology user fellow with international disability alliance (IDA) on the project titled “positioning OPDs as equal partners on Assistive technology”. Banya is interested in using Assistive technology to improve the lives of people with disabilities through advocating for information, Communication technology services (ICTs) including digital accessibility, new AAC devices, accessible to people with disabilities.

Ben, a former law librarian and qualified teacher, has a passion for inclusive design that has led him into researching and implementing approaches to inclusive information and technology provision for education. Ben has experience of working with all UK education sectors (primary, secondary, further and higher education) and many years' experience of working to improve both the physical and digital accessibility of educational organisations.

Miracle holds a first-class BA with honours in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and an MSc in Risk Analysis from Kings College London. As a visually impaired man, he is motivated by the idea that “Disability is ability, not disabling”. Miracle is an actor, franchisee in the area of Cleaning, and campaigns on different fronts, such as poverty, housing and Cancer Health policy issues. In the 2015 general election campaign, Miracle’s contribution was highly praised in Conservatives winning the Sutton and Cheam constituency. He is the face of the Guinness beer brand in Africa, for their disability and inclusivity with Sport TV campaign commercial. Additionally, Miracle has appeared in the SEQDerma #TakeASEQondLook campaign advertisement, aimed at challenging perceptions based on appearance.

Oladipupo Idris Olalere is a trained medical doctor with 4+ years of clinical practice experience. He is particularly interested in ensuring universal health coverage and has engaged in voluntary service with international NGOs. Ladi’s commitment to delivering holistic healthcare services motivated him to complete a master’s degree programme in disability, design, and innovation in 2021. In the last 2 years, Ladi has worked as a clinical research manager during which he designed and conducted several inclusive research within the healthcare space. His principal interest is in harnessing technological advancements to foster accessible and inclusive research protocols and processes.

Paul Mugambi is a passionate accessibility evangelist in the digital space and a blind innovator. He is a public policy expert and a passionate disability inclusion advocate and champion, with 20 years of experience in both humanitarian and development spheres. Paul has contributed to public policy in Kenya and Australia towards the inclusion of issues or persons' abilities related to housing, transportation, and language. He is a mentor and coach for innovation, accessibility audits, climate change, and a professional blind cricketer. He is a radio presenter and founder of the Disability Sausage Media.

Pete Donnelly has spent the last decade working in programme management roles across several charities that focus on supporting disabled people, Pete realised that it was time to make a change to the lives of wheelchair users and founded his social enterprise, The Wheelchair Skills College, with the vision that every wheelchair user should have access to learn essential wheelchair skills, believing that filling this current gap is more than a ‘nice to have’ service and is in fact a fundamental human right. With a focus on ensuring every person receives the appropriate training to use their wheelchair, Pete has explored how to share information using ICT to develop skills of the disabled community beyond the traditional route of in-person training. Pete has recently co-authored “Enhancing Manual Wheelchair Training through Immersive Visual Feedback”, a co-produced paper exploring innovative ways of using ICT to teach wheelchair skills.

Sara Rocha is a disabled advocate and a daily user of several types of assistive technology. She is the co-founder of Associação Portuguesa Voz do Autista, Vice-President of the European Council of Autistic People, and Vice-chair of the European Disability Forum Women's Committee. Sara works as a Data Manager for the Public Health and Primary Care department at the University of Cambridge. She participated in several international projects and research on disability as an advisor in European social policies and as an expert in disability data.

Dr Selvakumar Ramachandran, co-founder of UK-based Kerckhoffs Ltd & Eyemmersive, Inc. (USA), views himself as an information interrogator and staunch believer in the principle of knowledge pay-forward. Above all, he is an advocate for using technology advancements to empower humanity and promote inclusion. Selva’s commitment to improving access extends beyond the lab as he actively collaborates with domestic and global organisations to optimise emerging technologies. The aim is to enhance inclusivity and accessibility within the cultural, heritage, and tourism sectors for individuals with disabilities, neurodiverse and those who are underrepresented.

Full bio - Dr Selvakumar Ramachandran, MBCS, FRSA – Kerckhoffs Ltd

Yahye is a former Paralympic athlete – he represented the Great Britain squad in Goalball. Yahye is the writer and author of his autobiography, The Unshakeable Will. He is the founder of Inclusive Horizons (inclusivehorizons.com), a self-led social-advocacy service in the realm of accessibility, inclusion and inspiration coaching. Yahye has 14 years of experience in the UK and the UAE in the fields of social enterprises, commercial media, banking & digital transformation. Currently, among several roles, he is the Diversity & Accessibility Lead at Cyber-Duck. He holds a Master's degree in International HR Management from Westminster University in London with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion training. He is also a certified professional Co-Active coach.