Shona McDonald - a self-taught social entrepreneur - shares the day-to-day practices of her work with others in the Shonaquip Foundation, which offers an innovative approach in addressing the unique mobility needs of wheelchair users.
As part of ISS' Diversity and Inclusion Team’s ongoing seminar series on Plural bodies, Accessibility and Social Justice in Academia, Leveraging predictive data analytics McDonald's work drives a broad ecosystems change approach to celebrating diversity by strengthening health, education, and social development, and combining it with appropriate product design and manufacturing processes which are needed to build and deliver on a more inclusive and equitable society for the 1 billion people in the world who have a disability. In Southern Africa their work is focused on driving two movements, one on appropriate wheelchair provision in under-resourced regions and the other on shifting perceptions while building welcoming ecosystems around a child with disabilities and their family. Thus, McDonald provides a distinctly Global South perspective on disability inclusion in relation to social enterprise and advocacy.
About the speaker:
Shona McDonald – Executive Director Shonaquip
A sculptor until her second daughter acquired severe injuries at birth when the negative attitudes towards disability from friends, family, and the medical profession inspired her to create effective mobility and accessible health care solutions which are changing perceptions and the landscape of disability inclusion across the region.
As a self-taught entrepreneur, she uses a company, an advocacy trust and a non-profit organization which work systemically to influence disability policy and practice, advocating for rights and strengthening referral pathways and support services for people with disabilities across Southern Africa. Social entrepreneur and business woman, she is an Endeavor Entrepreneur, Ashoka Fellow, RESNA Fellow and past contributor to the WHO Guidelines and training programs supporting the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in less-resourced settings. This year, McDonald has received the CASMI (Collaboration for the Advancement of Sustainable Medical Innovation) Fellowship following the IGNITE Summit in leadership in Healthcare Innovation hosted by John Tooke and Colby Benari from School of Life and Medical Science, UCL.
Discussant: Dr Georgina Gomez (ISS)
Moderators: Lize Swartz (PhD researcher ISS)
This event is part of ISS' Diversity and Inclusion Team’s ongoing seminar series on Plural bodies, Accessibility and Social Justice in Academia.
Please note that the venue is wheelchair accessible.
The event will be in the Attic of the ISS building - fifth floor.