Mapping Support in the Global South

Since 2023, we have been mapping infrastructures for intellectual disability support in the Global South using two main methods:

1. We use a variety of online search techniques to build categorised databases on:
2. We use online interviews to talk to a wide range of key stakeholders in the field from:

Our initial results suggest that:

• Intellectual disability is a pressing issue on the ground across the Global South but the response to it seems ad-hoc and poorly co-ordinated.
• Important programmes, initiatives, and research exist on the ground in certain regions (especially Brazil, India, and South Africa) but they have little connection to one another or international infrastructures
• Many regions seem to have very little local or international support

We are currently analysing our data to understand why dominant mechanisms for global co-ordination are not resulting in systematic coverage on the ground. We will turn these results into different types of publications for sharing. We will use these publications as the basis for designing a solution for greater attention to the situation of people with intellectual disabilities in the Global South - and for better funding and co-ordination for the initiatives that can address it.

Researchers

Patrick McKearney

Priyasha Choudhary

Sanne Lukkien

Aleksandrs Gross

Benedek Bozo

Sabeer VC