Disability inclusion in Myanmar – animations

The team at Burnet Institute has produced two animations as part of their research into including and engaging people with disabilities in Myanmar.

Disability inclusion in Myanmar – the individual’s perspective

Disability inclusion in Myanmar – the research team’s perspective

Background to these animations

Disability inclusion in everyday life can be challenging wherever you live. Our team at Burnet Institute in Myanmar found that disability inclusion in health services and health research can be especially challenging in contexts of political, economic and social fragility like theirs. Since Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, the health system, which was already fragile, has collapsed further, severely impacting people with disabilities. They often face financial barriers to accessing the few remaining services, and many have been forced to forgo necessary treatments. With limited access to essential health care, they have to rely on selfcare, and community support with scarce financial resources.

The Burnet team embarked on a study with Shwe Inn Arr, an organisation supporting people with disabilities, to examine the barriers that people with disabilities face in accessing Myanmar’s health system. The aim is to co-design interventions to make the system more holistic. You’ll find more on that work here which has included the production of two animations which describe some of the challenges they have both witnessed and faced themselves.

The first looks at the experiences of a young women with disabilities and the challenges she faces at home and in wider society. It describes the positive impact she experienced engaging with Shwe Inn Arr. The second takes the researcher’s perspective, and the lessons learned by the Burnet team in how to respectfully and practically engage with disability groups in their research. Both animations are subtitled and signed and are real departures for both the team and the people with disabilities they worked with.

An animation produced by Burnet Institute in Myanmar which looks at the experiences of a young women with disabilities and the challenges she faces at home and in wider society. It describes the positive impact she experienced engaging with Shwe Inn Arr, a group for people with disabilities. This is part of wider research produced by the Burnet team.