In Kyrgyzstan, persons with disabilities are collecting proof of physical barriers to hold the government accountable

Physical barriers are being exposed by those who are affected the most

Originally published on Global Voices

This interview is part of a series of spotlights on the work of some of the grantees of the Digital Spark granting scheme, as part of the Regional Support Mechanism EECA project, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation and TechSoup, in partnership with CIVICUS and under the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) that covers the Global South. It is being published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Kyrgyzstan’s progress in creating an inclusive and accessible environment for people with disabilities remains limited after seven years of ratifying the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2019.

Despite a legal responsibility to undertake measures that would remove legal and physical barriers and help people with disabilities lead independent social and economic lives, the government has not prioritized this commitment at the level requested by the country’s disabled community.

In such circumstances, holding the government accountable requires proof of how much physical infrastructure remains inaccessible for the more than 218,000 people with disabilities in the country — about three percent of the population.

One of the organizations leading this effort in Kyrgyzstan is the public fund “Oasis”, which is documenting the level of physical inaccessibility in the capital, Bishkek, with the help of people with disabilities who are auditing objects through their real-life experiences. Global Voices conducted a written interview with Oasis to learn about this work, which is being carried out under the Digital Sparks project. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Global Voices (GV): Please tell us about your organization and why you chose to get involved with the Digital Sparks project.

Oasis (O): Founded in 2003, Oasis is a Kyrgyz civil society organization working to build inclusive communities where everyone can participate and reach their full potential.

We joined the project because we know that it is not possible to build an inclusive city without listening to the people navigating its barriers every day.

In Bishkek, we saw accessibility discussed through policies and assumptions, while lived experiences remained largely invisible. We wanted to change that to make exclusion visible, measurable, and impossible to overlook with the help of data.

Digital Sparks helped us build the Oasis Data Lab, bringing together citizen-generated data, digital mapping, storytelling, and advocacy. Our goal was not simply to create a map, but to build a bridge between lived experience and public decision-making, turning everyday barriers into evidence for change.

GV: What issue/challenge in your community prompted you to undertake this project?

O: The project grew from a practical problem: people with disabilities face barriers across Bishkek, but these barriers were not being systematically documented. Public transport, entrances, ramps, toilets, signage, and other parts of the urban environment can make everyday participation difficult. Yet without reliable and regularly updated data, these problems remain easy to overlook.

Kyrgyzstan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2019, but there is still a gap between formal commitments and everyday accessibility. Previous assessments were limited and did not create a living public record that could be used to monitor progress.

We therefore started from a simple principle: before accessibility can be improved, it has to be measured. And the people who experience these barriers every day should be directly involved in producing that evidence.

GV: What are the key changes/activities that your organization implemented during your participation in the project?

O: Through Digital Sparks, we developed Oasis Data Lab into a more structured space for digital civic participation. We brought together more than 30 young people, including people with physical disabilities, blind and low-vision participants, deaf participants, social activists, and urban experts.

We organized workshops on disability rights, inclusivity, digital advocacy, data collection, mapping, and storytelling. A major practical change was integrating UrbanEyes into our work. Through the application, participants can assess buildings using geolocation, photographs, questionnaires, and standardized accessibility indicators. The web platform then visualizes this information through an interactive map, filters, heat maps, and accessibility indices.

Most importantly, the project moved us from collecting individual complaints toward creating structured, comparable civic data that can support advocacy, dialogue with authorities, and evidence-based urban planning.

GV: How did your participation in the project impact your organization’s beneficiaries and the community that you serve? Please provide examples.

O: One of the biggest impacts has been the shift in how participants are positioned: not simply as beneficiaries, but as researchers, digital monitors, and civic actors.

Participants have already assessed 350 buildings across Bishkek and transformed their observations into geo-referenced data for the city’s accessibility map. The results show the scale of the problem clearly: 60.3 percent of assessed buildings had a ramp-related barrier, either because there was no ramp or because the existing ramp was difficult or unsuitable to use.

The project also allows participants to compare accessibility across districts and types of buildings, rather than relying only on individual complaints. Just as importantly, participants are learning to communicate findings through digital storytelling and advocacy. Their lived experience is becoming structured evidence that can be presented directly to decision-makers and used to argue for concrete improvements.

GV: How has your own knowledge, awareness, and experience with digital democracy and civic space changed, thanks to your participation in the project?

O: The project changed our understanding of digital democracy. We previously saw digital tools mainly as instruments for research, communication, and advocacy. Digital Sparks helped us understand their deeper democratic potential: digital democracy can change not only how information is shared, but who gets to produce it, whose voices are visible, and who participates in decision-making.

Participatory mapping showed that technology can shift evidence production closer to communities themselves. People can document the barriers they experience, make them visible, and use this evidence to demand change.

We also learned that digital democracy must be accessible, safe, and rights-based. More importantly, we realized that as society becomes increasingly digital, traditional forms of participation alone are no longer enough. Digital democracy offers an opportunity to make civic participation more inclusive, responsive, and effective.

GV: What are the most valuable lessons and experiences you are taking away from this project?

O: Our most valuable lesson is that “Nothing About Us Without Us” should apply not only to policymaking, but also to the evidence on which policy is based.

Lived experience can reveal things that a conventional audit may miss. A checklist may show that a building has a ramp, while a wheelchair user can show that the ramp is too steep, slippery, too narrow, lacks handrails, or still does not allow independent access.

We also learned that data must remain dynamic. Accessibility cannot be measured once and considered solved; information needs to be updated and connected to advocacy.

Finally, data alone does not create change. Its value comes from combining reliable evidence with storytelling, community leadership, public communication, and structured dialogue with institutions. That combination is what turns information into civic power.

GV: What comes next? How will you apply the learning and digital capacity you have built in your future work and within your community?

O: Our next step is to make Oasis Data Lab a long-term civic innovation and evidence hub rather than a one-time project. We plan to continue developing the UrbanEyes app and Bishkek’s Accessibility Map, regularly updating the data and using it to identify priority areas and support public accountability.

We also intend to use the findings in dialogue with Bishkek’s Mayor’s Office, the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Migration, civil society, businesses, and other stakeholders. The data can help identify areas requiring urgent improvement and support more informed infrastructure planning and budgeting.

Participants will be encouraged to continue contributing data, producing digital stories, and sharing their skills with other young advocates. In the longer term, we want to adapt this model to other regions, especially rural ones.