Kenya Case study report

Executive Summary

Mobile phones are increasingly important to our lives. They can connect people to learning and employment opportunities and support social and cultural interactions. Mobile phones have also been identified as assistive technology in prior AT2030 research. However, mobile phones and the Internet are often excluded from Government or Insurance-based assistive technology provision schemes in low- and middle-income countries. There is insufficient evidence to explain how mobile phones function as assistive technologies and what support is needed for people to learn the full suite of accessibility features on mobile devices.

Purpose

This Kenya study examines how smartphones function as assistive technology (AT) for Blind or Partially Sighted (BPS) and Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) people, following device onboarding, accessibility training, and six months of supported use.

Design

A mixed-methods approach combined baseline and follow-up surveys with interviews. Participants received Samsung A14 devices, 2 days of digital skills and accessibility training (e.g., TalkBack, Lookout, Live Transcribe, Sound Amplifier, Live Captions), and 2 GB of mobile data per month for 6 months. Smartphone usage was also passively observed using the Murmuras app (privacy-preserving, metadata only).

Sample

In Kenya, 194 people were recruited at baseline (97 BPS, 97 DHH); 126 responded to the exit survey, and 121 completed both surveys for the paired analysis (72 DHH; 49 BPS). Interviews were conducted with a purposive subset.

What changed

Key improvements observed include:

• Statistically significant improvements in 71% of digital skills items.
• Increased use in 10 of 25 activity areas, including communication, travel, job access, and health services.
• Significant improvement in access to information; DHH participants also reported gains in leisure.
• BPS participants showed strong gains in screen-reader/device navigation; DHH participants showed strong gains in communications.