Having a disability in Africa - What's that like? (original) (raw)
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Exploring the concerns of persons with disabilities in Western Zambia
African Journal of Disability, 2018
BACKGROUND: Understandings of disability are rooted in contexts. Despite the world’s significant contextual diversity, postcolonial power dynamics allow influential actors from the global North to imagine that most people across the global South understand disability in one generalised way. When it informs programmes and services for persons with disabilities in the global South, this imagining of a single generalised view could reduce effectiveness while further marginalising the people for whom the programmes and services were designed. OBJECTIVES: In the interest of better understanding a contextually grounded meaning of disability, we explored the expressed concerns of two organisations of persons with disabilities and their members in Western Zambia. METHOD: In this qualitative constructionist study, data collection focused upon life with a disability and services available to persons with disabilities. Data were collected through 39 individual interviews and eight focus group discussions with 81 members of organisations of persons with disabilities. Data were analysed thematically. RESULTS: The participants’ main expressed concern was poverty. This concern was articulated in terms of a life of suffering and a need for material resources. Participants linked poverty to disability in two ways. Some participants identified how impairments limited resource acquisition, resulting in suffering. Others considered poverty to be an integral part of the experience of disability. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to literature on disability theory by providing a contextually grounded account of a particular understanding of disability and poverty. The study also contributes to disability practice and policymaking through the demonstration of poverty as the main concern of persons with disabilities in this context.
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Disability & Society, 2012
This paper explores the accessibility situation in a developing country such as Zambia. The global view of accessibility for disabled people is provided to examine the accessibility situation in developed and developing countries, highlighting the role of the environment in achieving rights for disabled people. Recognition of disability rights relating to accessible built environments is a necessary element to ensure their participation. Limited disability research, lack of disability policies and systems, evaluation of disability rights and support from developed countries have been cited as contributing to the non-recognition of disability rights and low participation by disabled people in Africa. An international perspective of disability, accessibility and participation and the experiences of developed countries are examined and their potential for advancing accessible built environments for participation in developing countries considered. However, accessibility concepts, having been developed in western countries, are presented with caution acknowledging the geographical, social–cultural and economic differences that exist.
Reflections on Including Disability in Social Protection Programmes
IDS Bulletin, 2011
This article presents reflections on including disability in social protection and, specifically, in social assistance programmes. The main considerations for including disability in such programmes are: (a) the factors associated with disability that create vulnerabilities for people with disabilities and their household (e.g. social exclusion, the need for care and extra costs); (b) the nature of disability targeting within social protection and social assistance programmes; and (c) the measurement of disability -a complex but key factor in ensuring accurate targeting and monitoring of impact. This article describes these considerations in relation to experiences in three African countries -Uganda, Zambia and South Africa -and concludes with recommendations on recognition of disability as a vulnerability factor, and how targeting and measurement can and should be addressed for inclusion of disability in social assistance programmes.
The economic and epistemological dominance of the global North has outlived colonialism. This postcolonial dynamic causes impairment in the global South and renders life more difficult for persons with disabilities (PWDs). This dynamic also limits the ability of people in the global South to respond to disability. This thesis aimed to challenge the postcolonial dynamic through the development of new ways to think about disability, and what to do about it, through a North-South collaboration with a North American rehabilitation provider and two disability groups and their members in Western Zambia. This constructionist qualitative research project was informed by critical and participatory approaches to research. The participating groups included one based in an urban area and another in a rural area. A total of 81 individual members of the two groups participated. Data were generated through eight focus group discussions and 39 interviews and analyzed using thematic and reflexive analysis strategies. The participants of this research were most concerned with poverty. The strategy that they suggested to improve their situation was help, a gift or grant of material resources shared in a relationship of expected compassion. This research was complicated by power dynamics and differences between the participants and researcher with respect to priorities and ways of thinking. The complications likely impacted what people talked about and the way they talked about it. The complications also meant that this research was less collaborative than planned. This research showed that PWDs in Western Zambia had concerns, and suggested strategies to improve their situation, that were different than those that are most common in Zambia. Since the current ways of thinking about disability in Zambia are largely informed by the concerns and priorities of the global North, this research points to possible alternatives that are based in the realities of the country.
This paper is an update of the original 2010 working paper and includes additional voices, initiatives and findings, including significant changes in the territory of law and policy, along with some observations and interpretations from rights advocates and activists. This is a useful resource for persons with disabilities, families, care providers, researchers, reporters, cross-sector collaborators, planners and policy makers, and others interested in rights issues, gender justice and equality.
A Revolution Revisited: the state of democracy in Zambia since 1991
This inaugural Democracy Index for Zambia is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against. The tool, developed and honed by Idasa over many years, assesses the depth of democracy in a country through five focus areas: participation, elections, accountability, political rights, and human dignity. The research relies on expert analysis to answer a set of questions that interrogate how closely, in practice, democracy meets the broad ideal of self-representative government. More specifically, to what extent can citizens control elected offcials and government appointees who make decisions about public affairs? And how equal are citizens to one another in this accountability process? The purpose of the scores is to assist citizens in making their own judgements, based on the information made available, to stimulate national debate and to provide democracy promoters with a tool for identifying issues and needs that can be addressed by education, advocacy, training, institution building and policy revision.
Disability inclusion in social protection
Question: Identify any examples of integration of disability issues within cash transfer and broader social protection programmes, strategies and policies, in low-income contexts. Helpdesk response key findings: The literature suggests that the key rationale behind disability inclusive social protection policies and strategies is the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), along with the susceptibility of persons with disabilities to chronic poverty and social exclusion. Examples are provided from Kenya, Rwanda and Indonesia. Disability inclusive social protection programmes are designed to alleviate the additional cost of the barriers faced by people with disabilities. The implementation of disability inclusive social protection policies faces a number of problems as social protection programmes do not reach the vast majority of people with disabilities. They face physical barriers, communication barriers, attitudinal barriers, and a lack of sensitivity or awareness. •Types of programmes: i) targeted specifically at people with disabilities; ii) mainstream programmes; and iii) targeted mainstream programmes explicitly including people with disabilities. •Targeting: programmes can target all disabled people, or be means tested for a particular level or type of disability, or targeted at children with disabilities. This tends to be medically focused but targeting on the basis of a combination of medical and social criteria is best as this recognises people’s capabilities if given the right opportunities. Examples of disability inclusive social protection programmes are provided from Zambia, Uganda, India, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, amongst others. •Challenges for disability inclusive social protection programmes include: lack of data, costly monitoring systems, costs outweighing the benefits, lack of awareness and access, insufficient budgets, and a disincentive to work. Social protection programmes on their own will not eliminate the vulnerabilities persons with disabilities face. Therefore complementary programmes are needed to create an enabling environment for people with disabilities, such as adaptations to the built environment, inclusive education, rehabilitation and vocational training services, and the enactment and enforcement of disability legislation.