Abstract: The communities of people with physical disabilities in Thailand that I worked with are the communities of interests. They live in different area in the central region of Thailand. Most of them who have similar skills and live in proximity area tend to set up a group to produce and sell handicraft products in their community. Unfortunately their products are threatened by cheaper and imported products in the markets. Considering the cheaper and imported competition in the markets, the disabled people found that it was very difficult for them to make a living. Most of them had to give up their only chance to make a living. Therefore, the objective of this research aimed to investigate the potential role and contribution of participatory communication and participatory communication design to develop capabilities of people with physical disabilities to sustain their livelihoods and way of life. This research was done through a design intervention and a case study analysis. The methodology was Participatory Action Research using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. The research procedures consisted of consultation, collecting data, taking actions and reflection, and monitoring and evaluation. The conclusion, participatory communication and participatory communication design plays the crucial part through out the research process to enable the disable community to reach their full potential to have sustainable livelihoods in the long-term.
This is the abstract for The 1st Thai and Japan International Academic Conference on November 21th, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan.
