Social Sciences
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Item Use of Internet of things (IoT) for the people with disabilities: a Sri Lankan case study(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Wedasinghe, N.; Wickramarachchi, R.The main reason for Disability among young cause is until the year 2009 Sri Lanka had 30 years of humanitarian operations in the country. Most of them were permanently disabled while working in the National security forces in the country. The objective of this study is to overcome the difficulties faced by blind or visually impaired community in Sri Lanka using Internet of things (IOT) concept. The study is basically consisting with two phases. In the first phase of the study examined the current technology adaption among the differently abled community in Sri Lanka and problems faced by them. The second phase examines how the modern new technologies such as Internet of things (IoT) successfully solving the issues in globally and develop a model to overcome the Sri Lankan disability digital divide. First phase of these study two set of samples were interviewed to identify the current disability digital divide in the country. Initially 314 participants were interviewed and in the second set of sample including with 180 disabled participants. Sample selected from different communities, different disabled categories and different geographical locations. Findings indicated that basic level ICT technologies used by the differently abled community are low. Findings indicated that Network layer, Application layer and Presentation layer considerations are need to be importance to overcome the disability digital divide as a holistic model to overcome the disability digital divide in the country.Item Rethinking the Disability Digital Divide in Relations to Visual Disability in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Wedasinghe, N.; Wicramarachchi, R.People who are blind or visually impaired do not have equal opportunities to access information technology and internet access compared to the non disabled population in Sri Lanka. The level of usage of ICT by the disabled and non disabled are different in developed and developing countries. The purpose of this study is to find the reasons behind the digital divide among the people with visual disabilities in Sri Lanka and proposed solutions to eliminate digital divide among the Sri Lankan visually impaired differently able community. This study was conducted based on the literature behind the Digital divide, social construction of disability, The digital age, the development of information technology and Internet related technology and Other countries and Sri Lankan corporate policies related to information technology and main problems and issues faced by the visually impaired people when accessing ICT and Internet. In order to collect information on the Sri Lankan disability digital divide, interviews were conducted with a range of government representatives and more than 75 visually impaired civil and military computer users in Sri Lanka. As a result of this study it has been indicated that compared to other developed nations, Sri Lanka has also addressed the issue by implementing Nanasala project through ICTA and improving the telecommunication infrastructure with in the country and many other projects via private and public institutions with in the country. Survey results indicated that many Sri Lankans with disabilities are reluctant to use Information technology due to poverty, lack of awareness, lack of interest and their social and cultural backgrounds and also as their first language is not very well supported by the computer system. These factors are highly co-related with digital disability in Sri Lanka. Conclusions and recommendations are made by proposing implementation of several projects under the supervision of the central government. They are to introduce a web portal for visually disabled people with language support, more training and awareness of the ICT among this community, encourage and develop screen reader software which can support first languages such as Tamil and Sinhala.Item Educating for Critical Disability Studies within a Sri Lankan Context: An Exploration into a Problematic(University of Kelaniya, 2005) Campbell, F.K.There is a paucity of research (both conceptual and applied) that explores Buddhist engagements with the neologism ‘disability’, aside from rather simplistic and moribund reiterations of the doctrine of karma and merit. More significantly, the complex and rich tapestry of interpretations of dukkha and the ways that the Buddha’s teachings can prompt a revisioning of disablement remain under explored. In the Sri Lankan context, approaches to meeting the needs of disabled people through service delivery and more recently in policy development and law reform, have been shaped and influenced by the nation’s Judaeo-Christian colonial heritage (including models of welfare and charity) and global, liberal (western) conceptual frameworks instigated through the United Nations. Although there have been debates within Sri Lankan studies about the conceptual efficacy of the notion of Protestant Buddhism and the extent to which this notion drives critical responses to welfare provision in society, this debate has not been extended to the realm of critical disability studies (CDS). This paper explores the legacies of colonial understandings of welfare, in particular the seemingly uncritical adoption of crypto-medical and functionalist formulations of disability. Dr. Campbell considers this inheritance in the light of increased pressure on the Sri Lankan government by both the United Nations and international financial sources, to conform to the universal project of disability standards, definitions of disablement and externally imposed models of service delivery, legal and policy frameworks. The author concludes that the emphasis on bio-medical functionalist models of disablement obscures the possibility of exploring alternative conceptualisations of disablement, which maybe more suited to the Sri Lankan context. The final aspect of the paper contains a discussion of the challenges of education for CDS in an environment where a critical mass of home growth scholar is largely absent.