The Disability Paradox: Better Opportunities Versus the Hardships of High-Achieving Disabled Women of Ethiopia (original) (raw)
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Disability Rights are Human Rights: Pushing Ethiopia Towards a Rights-based Movement
Northwestern Journal of Human Rights, 2021
Official estimates suggest that 95 percent of Ethiopia's disabled live under the poverty line and are unemployed. 1 To get by, many must beg or depend on family and friends. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the ministry responsible for enforcing rights of disabled people, is a paper tiger, toothless at that. Recent data suggest that only one percent of Ethiopian buildings and roads are fully accessible to the disabled. 2 Yet accessibility is not only a physical, but also a social, cultural, and political sine qua non-and so a matter of human rights. Rights of Ethiopia's disabled have been quashed or ignored for millennia. Generations have grown up in a society shaped by church dogma, which construes disability as the result of sin, a source of shame. Whether disability is physical or cognitive, regardless of an affected person's courage and capacity to cope, the disabled have been excluded from many aspects of 1 INT'L LABOR ORG., MOVING TOWARDS DISABILITY INCLUSION: STORIES OF CHANGE 14 (2015). 2 For the purpose of this paper, the term "full access" should be construed as incorporating reasonable accommodations and universal building design standards set out in the CRPD (see CONVENTION ON THE
2019
The study aims to investigate the challenges of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in participating in educational, economic and social activities. To achieve the objective of the study, 335 participants were randomly selected. The data were collected through questionnaire and interview. The quantitative data collected using questionnaire were analyzed using frequency, percentage and t-test whereas qualitative data gathered through interview were analyzed through thematic analysis. The result of the study indicated that the majority of the participants were illiterate and completed their primary level of education; they had low average monthly income; and they had limited participation in social activities. This result is attributed to negative attitudes of the community, inaccessibility of services due to unfriendly physical environment, lack of facilities and assistive devices and lack of capital. Besides, the study found that there were no statistically significant mean differences...
PLOS ONE
Background When an individual’s activities and performances in a normal environment are limited in nature, function, or quality, that person is considered to have a disability. Although many studies on disabled people’s lived experiences have been conducted around the world, there is still a significant gap between nations in multiple cases such as culture, economic status, and the recommendation of a previous study in Ethiopia, which is one reason for conducting this research. Objectives To explore the lived experiences of disabled individuals living in Bahir Dar City Methods A descriptive phenomenology study design was employed in Bahir Dar city on 15 disabled individuals from November 15 to December 20, 2022. A heterogeneous purposive sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data was collected by using an in-depth interview. The rigor and trustworthiness of the study were maintained by transferability, dependability, credibility, and conformability. Colaizzi’s ph...
The role of disability rights movements in the Ethiopian Development Agenda
2011
Despite the ever increasing number of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Ethiopia and the resulting conditions of abject poverty, efforts made to curb the existing situation, thereby improving the lives and citizenry contributions of PWDs, has been minimal. Consequently, poverty and insufficient participation of PWDs continue to be the distinctive features characterizing the disability sector and movement in Ethiopia. This research was aimed at investigating the role, involvement and impact of PWDs and the Disability Rights Movement (DRM) in Ethiopia in realizing the effective inclusion of disability in the country's development agenda, with a specific focus on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). A qualitative research paradigm, using a case study design, was employed as a research method in this study. Data were collected using two data collection methods; namely, key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). Purposive sampling and snowballing techniques were used to select 44 people who participated in ten key informant interviews and three focus group discussions (each FGD attended by 8 to 10 participants). The researcher was flexible enough to conduct additional KIIs and FGDs until the data saturation point was reached. Semi-Structured Interview Guides were employed as data collection tools. A thematic content analysis was conducted following a systematic process of coding data and grouping codes into categories and emerging themes. The study was conducted in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Federation of Ethiopian National Associations for People with Disabilities (FENAPD)-the umbrella Disabled People Organization (DPO) in Ethiopia. The results of the study revealed that the disability movement in Ethiopia has not been active enough in ensuring the involvement of PWDs in the country's development endeavours. It was also reiterated that, even if the Ethiopian government was one of the first signatories of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the practical recognition that it has so far conferred to disability and PWDs in its development plans has been less than satisfactory. The study also underlined the fact that some recent progresses, such as the mentioning of disability in the currently under-review third PRSP document of Ethiopia, should be strengthened in order to pave the way for a more comprehensive inclusion of disability. Imminent challenges and opportunities facing the Ethiopian disability movement have also been explored in the study.
Research on humanities and social sciences, 2017
In Ethiopia disabled people are among the most disadvantaged and most vulnerable groups of the society. They have been not only unable to participate in national developments efforts but also are not the beneficiaries of the results. The major concern of this study was to identify the causes of exclusion for disabled people in public sector service provision and to identify the major challenges of mainstreaming disability in development programs. For the purpose of the study primary data were collected from disabled sample individuals and concerned organizations. A total of 86 individuals were selected randomly from the total disabled population in the town and descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the data. The result of the study revealed that absence of the services designed for those people, economic problems and discrimination are major causes of exclusion. Moreover lack of political commitment; the attitude of the society towards disability; resource limitation; and i...
Challenges and coping strategies of women with physical disability in Bahir Dar city, Ethiopia
The main purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of married women with physical disability. More specifically this study focused on main challenges faced by married women with physical disabilities, opportunities available to ensure the right of disabled women and strategies they used to solve their challenges. Qualitative research approach and case research design was used to present the study result. In-depth interview was the main data collection tool for this study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the result of this study. The finding of this study indicated that married women experienced multiple challenges which include social-cultural challenges, psychological problems, economic problems, domestic challenges and gender based violence, violence based on their disability status, reproductive and health problems. Violence against women is most pressing challenges faced by women with physical disabilities. Thus findings revealed that women experienced multiple forms of violence, including emotional violence, neglect, financial abuse or exploitation, and physical or sexual abuse. This violence could include ignoring nutritional or medical needs, or inappropriate handling by caregivers. It could also take the form of being denied to access and control over financial resources. Women were also narrated that they face structural barriers in accessing education, health, and social services. Most safe places for women and girls remain inaccessible to those with disabilities. As a concluding remarks attention needs to be given for people with physical impairment and legal frameworks need to be implemented at grass root level to create disability friendly environment. It needs the collaborative effort of humanitarian agencies, the society, government and non-governmental organizations to make disability sensitization and resource mobilization to mainstream disability.
“The Right to Work and Employment of Persons with Disability: glimpse at the case in Ethiopia”
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in general and Article 27 in particular recognizes that persons with disabilities have equal dignity, value and autonomy or self-sufficiency and are worthy of self-fulfillment of their needs through gainful employment experiences. To this effect, it imposes obligations over States parties to the Convention to ensure and promote the realization of the right to work and employment in an open labour market where there is accommodative and conducive working environment. These entails obligation to identify obstacles that arise due to lack of means, the physical environment, social prejudices, lack of awareness, professional incapacity, etc and address them as well as take measures to bring about substantive equality between persons with disabilities and without disabilities in the sphere of work and employment. The Convention guarantees against disability-based discrimination, ensure equality of opportunities to gain work which persons with disabilities freely chooses or accepts, promote opportunities for self-employment and dictate other measures in the interest of the rights of persons with disabilities. The major theme of this essay, therefore, is to analyze the obligations over States as envisaged under the CRPD and appraise its implications with resp
The Right to Inclusive Education of Persons with Disabilities in Ethiopia: The Law and Practice
Social Science Research Network, 2021
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2020
Background: Disability is not just a physical condition; it develops through human interactions and reflects the social fabric of communities. Despite the magnitude of the problem, however, both awareness and scientific information on disability and the conditions of persons with disabilities (PwDs) are lacking in Ethiopia. Against this backdrop, the University of Gondar established the Dabat Demographic Health Surveillance System to gather longitudinal and policy relevant empirical data on various aspects of healthy living, including disability, in Dabat district of northwestern Ethiopia. Method: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 13 Kebeles of Dabat district where the DHSS operates. Quantitative data was gathered using the World Health Organization’s Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) and International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability (ICF). The data was organized, analyzed, presented and described using frequencies and percentage...