An estimated 16 per cent of the global population - around 1.3 billion people - live with some form of significant disability.[1] In Asia and the Pacific, this translates into approximately 750 million persons with disabilities,[2] a number expected to grow significantly due to rapid population ageing. Persons with disabilities continue to face prevailing exclusion from nearly all sectors of society. Economic participation of persons with disabilities remains at critically low levels across Asia-Pacific countries. Women with disabilities, youth and rural inhabitants with disabilities experience particularly higher rates of unemployment or economic inactivity and are at greater risk of vulnerable employment and insufficient social protection.[3] In Asia-Pacific countries and territories where data are available (as of 2021), the median labour force participation rate for persons with disabilities was 25.4 per cent, compared to 60.4 per cent for persons without disabilities. The participation of women with disabilities was even lower, at merely 20.7 per cent.[4]

Economic inclusion can only be achieved through an ecosystem that enables equal access to inclusive education, vocational skills training and employment services, as well as entrepreneurial and financial services. For persons with disabilities, accessibility and reasonable accommodation are critical preconditions for their equal and effective participation. And access to affordable and quality assistive products, devices and services is key for persons to navigate independent living and productive participation in learning and economic activities. Assistive technology (AT) significantly impacts lifetime earning potential, with studies showing that providing products like hearing aids, prostheses, spectacles, and wheelchairs can yield an average income increase of about US$100,000 over the life of a person who receives such technology.[5] Yet, significant access gaps persist across the globe. Globally, approximately one in three people, or over 2.5 billion, require at least one assistive product, and this number is expected to grow to over 3.5 billion by 2050 due to population ageing and rising noncommunicable diseases. Despite this immense need, nearly one billion people worldwide are unable to access the AT they require.[6] In low-income countries, access rates can be as low as 3 to 10 per cent for those in need, starkly contrasting with an average of 90 per cent in high-income countries.[7] In the Asia-Pacific region, 16 out of 24 countries surveyed reported that less than 50 per cent of persons with disabilities who need AT actually had access to it.[8] The significant AT access gap is also shaped by various disparities and underlying barriers, such as gender, rural-urban division, and the type of disability.

Addressing the critical gaps in access to AT – including sophisticated ones – has become even more urgent as the economy and the future of work reshape amidst rapid digitalization and technological transformations. To address this long-standing challenge, new and creative solutions are needed to transform the AT supply chain, invest in AT innovations, improve systems of AT provision and associate services - all with stronger equity lens and closer engagement of the disability community.

In this context, ESCAP’s Social Development Division is developing a policy paper on AT and economic inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. The policy paper aims to examine the context around access to AT in the region, especially in developing countries, discuss various scenarios and promising practices of the use of AT for economic inclusion of persons with disabilities, and provide insights into public policy options and corporate considerations that could strengthen the AT value chain, putting persons with disabilities at the centre of design and value chain development, and apply AT in the ecosystem design to economically empower persons with disabilities. To solicit expert inputs and validate findings and proposed policy actions, ESCAP will convene a virtual expert group meeting with experts on AT, disability inclusion, economic empowerment from both public and private sectors, organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), the academia, as well as international development partners.