Assessment of barriers to mobility device usage for people with lower limb disability: Rwanda as a case study

Abstract

A disability may set in at any stage of life. Therefore, everyone may be susceptible to physical disability, either temporarily or permanently, at some point in his or her life, and those who live till old age will have difficulties in executing tasks that demand physical abilities, particularly mobility. Hence, lack of aid and support poses a major barrier to participation in society for individuals with physical disabilities. This may lead victims with lower limb physical disabilities to become overly reliant on their family members for the execution of their activities of daily living. This may prevent both the persons with the disability and their family members from becoming economically engaged and socially included. Rehabilitation with mobility devices can alleviate this situation by aiding people with lower limb disabilities to live independent lives in society. However, due to poor awareness in our societies especially in low and medium-income countries (LMICs) such as Rwanda, accessibility to the use of mobility equipment, faces some major challenges. It is in this context that the necessity for mobility gadgets to assist in such a situation is critical and a good research interest. This project aimed to investigate the variety of parameters that are known to influence access to mobility devices. A quantitative and qualitative, descriptive study was conducted to assess the barriers faced by people with lower limb disability using mobility and purposive sampling was used to gather required information. Evidence based on the data collected has shown that the leading factors are the lack of knowledge on an appropriate device for a specific impairment, lack of funds, especially as concerns the victims, geographical restrictions, environmental factors, and so on. It is believed that this study will be able to identify these barriers and present recommendations to improve the situation for promotion and facilitation of access to various inexpensive, easy-to-use and maintain, environmentally friendly mobility devices for people with disabilities living in LMICs including Rwanda.