ShonaquipSE Commitment to Assistive Technology

The United Nations has taken a historic step

On 2 September 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its first resolution dedicated to Access to Assistive Technology, A/RES/80/304, by consensus. The resolution recognises assistive technology as an essential part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and advancing the rights of persons with disabilities. It calls for assistive technology to be integrated across health, education, employment, social protection and humanitarian systems, and for sustainable, affordable and equitable access to the products and services people need to participate in everyday life. 

 

This is a landmark moment

For Shonaquip Social Enterprise, however, it is also deeply familiar. For almost 30 years, ShonaquipSE has worked in South Africa to make inclusion possible through appropriate assistive technology, innovation, training, community-based support and partnerships.

We have learned that a device is never simply a device. A wheelchair is not merely a wheelchair when it determines whether a child can attend school. A mobility device is not merely equipment when it determines whether a person can reach a clinic, visit family or earn a living.

An assistive product is not simply something that is prescribed and handed over. It can be the bridge between dependence and independence, between isolation and participation, and between being present in society and being able to belong.

Our commitment

ShonaquipSE welcomes the United Nations General Assembly's historic resolution on Access to Assistive Technology.

We see it not as the beginning of the conversation, but as an important global recognition of a principle that people with disabilities, families, practitioners, advocates and innovators have been advancing for decades.

For nearly 30 years, ShonaquipSE has worked toward a simple belief, inclusion should not depend on where you live, how much you earn, or whether the system happens to have the right device available. We believe that appropriate assistive technology should enable people to live with dignity, independence and choice. We believe that solutions must be designed with people, not simply for them.  And we believe that the road to inclusion must be accessible from the very first mile. The UN has now given this principle a stronger global voice.

 

Our responsibility is to help turn that voice into action.

Because inclusion is not a privilege to be granted.

It is a right to be enabled.

 

And the work begins where people live.

 

Exhibitor Data Sheet