MEMO

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Question 1: What is the main barrier to accessing assistive products?

 

Key Fields: Barrier refers to the eight reasons collected by the World Health Organization on the challenges people with disabilities might face in accessing assistive products. For example, not available, can’t afford, or stigma. Percentage refers to a relative value from the results of 26 countries. For example, X% of people couldn’t access assistive products because of reason Y.

 

Data Quality: From the raw data and the first draft, it is evident that affordability is the main barrier to accessing assistive products compared to other reasons combined. Comparing its significance as a factor in different income regions helps explain how it is a universal issue.

 

Visualization and Reflection: The tree map template is designed for population calculation and comparison, but my goal is not to add up the percentages of countries in respective income regions. Instead, I calculate the median percentage for each income category across all geographical regions first on the spreadsheet and then plug in the data on Flourish. Data from 26 countries collected by the World Health Organization indicate that, regardless of the country's income classification, affordability is a significant reason why people don't have access to assistive products.

 

Question 2: Affordability is a challenge. How much is the government helping?

 

Key Fields: Funding for assistive products refers to the seven sources determined by the World Health Organization, including government, NGO, and out-of-pocket. Percentage refers to a relative value from the results of 26 countries. For example, X% of people receive funding for assistive products from Y.

 

Data Quality: For the same reason as the first visualization, I calculate the median percentage of government funding for each income category across all geographical regions first on the spreadsheet and then plug in the data on Flourish.

 

Visualization and Reflection: The tree map template allows me to compare the percentage of government funding for assistive technology across countries in different income and geographical regions. The initial data and first draft suggest that people with disabilities have to rely on themselves, friends, or family to afford assistive products, as opposed to receiving sufficient government funding. In lower-middle-income and low-income regions, government funding for assistive products amounts to less than 5%. In upper-middle-income and high-income regions, it's less than 8%, except for South Asia."