David Banes Access and Inclusion
David Banes was formerly CEO, and currently Head of Policy at Mada the Qatar Assistive Technology and Accessibility Center based in Doha where he has been based worked in Doha for the past five years. He was responsible for developing services to ensure that people with a disability in Qatar are digitally included, and is currently focussed on the broad policy framework required to ensure and sustain this.
Prior to taking up his post in Qatar, he worked as a teacher of children with special needs and principal of a major special school before working in the realm of digital Inclusion in the UK and Europe as Director of Operations and Development for a UK NGO.
Mada offers a single point of co-ordination for all activities related to digital and eInclusion in Qatar. Increasingly the centre is also seeking to influence the emerging Access ecosystem in the region promoting cooperation between states and supports the development of assistive technology solutions and digital content that meet the needs of Arabic speaking people with a disability.
His recent work has focussed on the development of a framework for the contextualisation of assistive technologies, guidance for the transference of knowledge and skills across communities and developing a policy framework to protect the rights of people with a disability in Qatar.