People with disabilities, especially women, represent one of the most marginalized groups in society, where opportunities to express their views and concerns are often restricted. People with special needs encounter widespread difficulties in entering the workforce. Problems begin at school, when people with disabilities have difficulty preparing for the job market because of various factors, including prejudice, discrimination by classmates and teachers, plus many lacking basic communication skills, such as children who are hard of hearing. Aggravating this problem is a lack of awareness by society of their potential, the lack of skilled workers and misinformation among potential employers. This is the scenario people with disabilities face on a daily basis throughout most developing countries.
Through the development of new technologies, we are creating technical jobs, sustainable enterprises, for people who are deaf, by manufacturing solar powered hearing aids and rechargeable hearing aid batteries for people who are hearing impaired. We developed the first rechargeable digital hearing aid costing under $70US and first rechargeable hearing aid battery which costs $0.50 but lasts 2 to 3 years. To charge both products we invented but did not patent a solar hearing aid and battery recharger.
By investing in equipment, training, educational programs, the revenues from these products create additional employment opportunities. People who are deaf and speak in sign language have a higher than average hand eye co-ordination. We require this special ability to assemble the micro-components of a hearing aid. As Gregory Bateson said; “Without skill there is no art.” Our program uses appropriate technology which addresses both “hard” and “soft” technologies. The hard technology includes such things as our solar chargers while “soft” or social technology is our deaf education and empowerment programs.
Started in Botswana in 2002 with 6 youths, now replicated in Brazil with 10 more youths and it is being scaled to Middle- East where we will have 12 youths who are deaf from Jordan, Palestine and Israel working together. To be a sustainable project, we work on making our employees sustainable as people, giving them opportunity, support, encouragement and love to grow Having the young adults, who are deaf from Botswana, train the young adults who are deaf in Brazil was a transformative event in the teachers and students lives. It was an historic South–South, deaf to deaf technical training program. This has garnered us publicity in European trade journals, Brazil Business Week, and in Newsweek. We have been featured national and international TV, as well as earning a Humanitarian, a Tech and an Economic Empowerment Award. We exhibited our products at Smithsonian Museum exhibition called; Design for the Other 90%. All of the publicity has generated sales, given us international credibility plus has been a cornerstone of our present success.
In Botswana our workers started at a minimum wage and now they making 6 to 8 times minimum wage. We sold over 10,000 hearing aids, 20,000 solar chargers and 40,000 batteries. Our Brazil operation has more than double this capacity. Our goal in all operations is to show other companies that people who are deaf and speak in sign language have better hand-eye co-ordination and should be hired given their special ability in micro-electronic soldering. In Botswana 35 youths were hired due to our efforts.
In Botswana, our social mission was HIV- AIDS educational programs for the deaf where we lowered the rate in deaf population from 38% to 10%. In Brazil we offer auditory, speech language and voice therapy for free to over 6,000 children a year in Sao Paulo. In the Middle- East we have a peace building component, with stakeholders from Palestine, Israel and Jordan already in place as well already invested. Each location will have their own social mission, yet deaf education, health (HIV-AIDS) and technology programs are shared for free.
In Botswana we started with a hearing aid project only. In Brazil, in addition to manufacturing hearing aids, we give audiology and speech language therapy for free to children in Sao Paulo. Lions will be taking it to the next level by also offering prevention and education programs to complement the hearing aid project. WWhearing in addition to supplying hearing aids will also have a prevention, research, education, and therapy and advocacy program directly affecting the lives of over 160,000,000 people over the next 5 years. For the first time, a total solution to lower hearing impairment in developing countries will be introduced.
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Global Social Impact
Describe the full potential impact of your idea – how many people, in which demographic segments, in which countries and regions could potentially benefit from this innovation?
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 300 million people would benefit from a hearing aid, two-thirds of them are living in developing countries. Also, 90% of all newborns with a hearing impairment are born in developing countries, yet only 12% of hearing aids are sold, mainly to affluent members of these countries. Solar Ear’s mission is make total hearing health, possible for people worldwide with a priority in developing countries and underserved communities by: providing “affordable and sustainable hearing amplification equipment to all who need it,” establishing WWH hearing centers worldwide, advocating for people’s hearing health rights. Our goal is to lower hearing impairment for 60,00,000 people and lower the burden of hearing loss to over 100,000,000 million people within the next five years. Indirectly, we will reach 3 to 5 times as many people, as pregnant mothers, parents of children who are hearing impaired, and their teachers will be involved. Getting a child a hearing aid at a young age, i.e. before 3 years old, is imperative as she can learn to communicate. The hearing aid will also enable the child to be mainstreamed in a local school, thus giving the child the opportunity for an education. Finally, there are very few schools for the deaf in developing countries. Article 26 of UN Charter on Human Rights, states "everyone has the right to education." This project aims to give the hearing impaired child improved access to education, as without a hearing aid they are deaf.
Our goal is not only to scale the operations but more important to achieve critical scale of our impact. We want to continue to reduce HIV- AIDS rate for the deaf population. We want to continue to show companies that people who are deaf have a special ability, therefore should be given employment opportunities. We want to show society that people with a disability are people with a disability and not a disabled person. We want the people in the Middle-East to hear the sounds of peace from the Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian workers who are deaf. We then want to replicate this part of the program in Kashmir, Kosovo, Sri Lanka and Indonesia
Given the infrastructure limits in Botswana, Brazil, and Middle- East coupled with the worldwide demand for hearing aids outlined by WHO, makes it necessary to open additional facilities in other parts of the world. Each project will be independent and have no financial attachments to, or responsibilities for, the others. Whenever possible, each project will try to purchase as much technical equipment, office supplies, and parts from the local market as is possible and affordable. Each project will be run as a separate humanitarian, non-profit, sustainable operation. The projects will be designed to help meet demand, not only in the country of assembly, but also in the wider trading area. For example, Botswana now covers Africa; West Bank will service all the Mid-East, and Brazil, all of Latin America. Each place will be able to sell into their neighboring trading countries duty free. Dr. CK. Prahalad, author of book Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid has endorsed my business model as, “the least expensive method of getting low cost products to people in different parts of the world,” versus from a possible lower cost factory shipping from Vietnam.
All centers will be working together, sharing for free any technological developments. We will take advantage of any price breaks, and economies of scale in purchasing any new technologies. For example the solar charger costs in Botswana are over $13.75US, with the volume requirements from Brazil the cost dropped to below $10.00US.The final cost will be in the $6.50 range thereby affording more people the opportunity to purchase this product. The solar charger and rechargeable hearing aid batteries can be used with any Behind The Ear (BTE) on the market today, not just ones manufactured at above centers. Today over 200 million hearing aid batteries are thrown out every year. A zinc air hearing aid battery costs $1 and lasts about 1 week. The other problem with hearing aid batteries is that one cannot buy them in developing countries outside of most capital cities. The battery developed in Botswana then modified in Brazil costs less than $1 but lasts 2 to 3 years.
Finally, proving to governments that reducing hearing impairment has saved them medical and educational costs plus h