‘A frog in a well’: the exclusion of disabled people from work in Cambodia

Based on ethnographic research conducted in north‐west Cambodia in 2000–2001, this paper examines why disabled people experience systematic marginalisation in the labour market. Although there are no official data on the relationship between disability and employment status in Cambodia, this research suggests that disabled people are more likely than their able‐bodied counterparts to be unemployed, in low status occupations, earn less or be out of the labour market altogether. Consequently, disabled people are more likely to live in poverty, experience social isolation and poor mental health. I argue that disabled people’s social status effectively shapes their work patterns through (mis)conceptions that associate ‘disability’ with ‘inability’ to work and to be employable. This paper illustrates how geographical processes fix disabled people in their socio‐spatial place, which together with ideological and structural inequalities distinguish and entrench their poverty from that of other social groups.     

The disability–poverty nexus and the case for a capabilities approach: evidence from Johannesburg,South Africa

Debates about the relationship between poverty and disability continue and are important in that they contribute to policies regarding how best to address the needs of disabled people living in conditions of poverty. Increasingly, researchers have begun to use Sen's capabilities approach in understanding disability. However, the approach has not been adequately applied to understand the nature of the poverty and disability nexus, particularly in developing contexts. This article seeks to address this gap by reporting on evidence from a study conducted in eight of the poorest wards in Johannesburg. Using the capabilities lens we demonstrate the ways in which both poverty and disability compound one another to limit the capabilities of people. The findings point to the need for broad-scale as well as targeted social development policies and programmes to address the consequences of poverty and disability.     

Pushing the boundaries of our understanding of disability and violence: voices from the Global South (Guyana)

Our knowledge about disabled people’s lives is largely based on research in the Global North. This article considers disability and violence in the Global South, specifically in Guyana. It aims to push conceptual and empirical boundaries of our understanding of violence and disability. Conceptually, it argues for a social model materialist theory of disability attuned to how material barriers to disabled people’s inclusion in society and space are reproduced through processes of exclusion unfolding across geographic scales ranging from the global, to the inter-personal and intra-personal. It argues that Lacanian psycho-analytic theory provides a complimentary lens for understanding why people engage in acts that construct disabled people as ‘deserving’ of violence. Empirically, the article broadens our understanding of disability and violence by focusing on poverty, violence as a cause of impairment and disability, and disabled women’s and men’s experiences of violence in a majority world context.     

Integrating people with disabilities: their right – our responsibility

A full understanding of disability recognizes that it has a powerful human rights dimension and is often associated with social exclusion, and increased exposure and vulnerability to poverty. Disability is a human rights issue. The World Bank (1999) report points out that one in five of the world’s poorest are disabled, for whom access to basic rights is a daily struggle. Though arising from physical or intellectual impairment, disability has social implications as well as health ones. In most countries, government services for disabled people are still small‐scale rehabilitation projects separated from the rest of the community. People with disabilities are amongst the poorest of the poor. Barriers built by disability and poverty can only be removed by the concerted and integrated effort of the government, NGOs, corporates, movie mughals and educational institutions. It is the duty of the rest of society to acknowledge the rights of the poor and the disabled. This can no longer be treated as philanthropy but is a responsibility.     

We did it together: a participatory action research study on poverty and disability

This article presents the perspective of both non-disabled and developmentally disabled people working together in a research project on poverty and disability. Our study used a participatory action research approach that challenges the norm of exclusion in the research process. Control of the research agenda has been inclusive and shared to varying degrees in accordance with the needs and desires of the members of an advisory committee of developmentally disabled people living with low income. We reflect on our process of working together according to four principles of participatory action research with disabled people. We discuss our successes and challenges enacting these principles in the hopes that future researchers can build upon our experience to be more inclusive of developmentally disabled people in their work.     

The independent living movement in Asia: solidarity from Japan

Independent living movements of disabled people are emerging in Asian countries, supported by independent living centres (ILCs) in Japan. A study was conducted in Japan to explore the impact of the training program offered by Japanese ILCs to disabled people from other Asian countries. A sample of 35 people was selected by a snowballing method. The sample included former trainees from Asian countries and Japanese personnel from disability organizations involved with the training program. In‐depth interviews and a focus group were conducted to obtain information about the program, the experiences of the trainees and Japanese hosts and the budding independent living movement in Asia.     

Disabled people,inclusion and policy: better outcomes through a public health approach?

The social model of disability has implications for evaluation of disability policy. Public health analyses suggest that a population and environmental approach to enablement is more likely to impact positively on disabled people than person-centred action. The capacity of people living with disabilities to participate in a range of social activities and the attitudes of others to such participation are, along with environments, important factors contributing to disability situations and therefore the restriction of our promotion of personhood. These are areas where metrics could be used to evaluate the impact of disability policy.     

The emancipation of disability studies in Portugal

Despite the interest of the social sciences in issues of exclusion and inequality, the question of disability, as a key issue of reflection, remains absent from many academic areas. The emergence of disability studies owes much to contexts in which the activism of disabled people has revealed the structural conditions that oppress and neglect experiences of disability. Bearing in mind the specific features of the Portuguese socio-political environment, two lines of inquiry are developed in this text. Firstly, what are the challenges faced by Portuguese academics in making disability a central issue, enabling it to confront the silencing of the voices and experiences of disabled people in society? Secondly, how important is it for research to engage with an ethical and political paradigm that supports the rights of disabled people?     

When they call me cripple: a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy attending a special needs school talk about being disabled

Central to the experience of disability are social and political forces and discourses which position people in particular ways. Little is known about the experiences of individuals with disabilities living in low-income and middle-income countries. We investigate the lived experience of a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents with cerebral palsy. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The participants position themselves between the medical and social models of disability, in a liminal space between ‘normal’ and ‘disabled’, but do not identify with either group. They describe a ‘hierarchy of disability’ and position themselves in-between more serious sensory impairments and less serious emotional and learning disabilities. Being disabled is associated with being taken care of, infantilised and being powerless. Consequently they aspire to achieve independence and autonomy, and face danger, which are seen as signifiers that they are not disabled.     

Psychiatrist–consumer relationships in US public mental health care: consumers’ views of a disability system

The US public mental health system is a disability system. By this is meant that public programs for people with mental illness serve consumers who are seriously and chronically ill, functionally disabled and eligible for benefits by virtue of their disability. This study explores, through focus groups and qualitative data analysis, the perceptions of these consumers of their relationships with public sector psychiatrists. Thematic analysis finds relationships of three types – compliance, collaboration and contention – and constituent sub‐themes that specify these further. Issues of poverty and powerlessness arise in every category, but especially in contentious relationships. Although the converse is widely believed to be true, this paper argues that the economic and political empowerment of people with psychiatric disabilities is vital to the success of their clinical care     

Doing disability research in a Southern context: challenges and possibilities

Research on disability issues in countries of the South is primarily dominated by a focus on generating large scale quantitative data sets. This paper discusses the many challenges, opportunities and dilemmas faced in designing and undertaking a qualitative research study in one district in India. The Disability, Education and Poverty Project (DEPP) aims at exploring the role of education in the lives of young people with disabilities living in poverty. A central focus of the research is to engage with the young people with disabilities themselves and to understand how they construed their lives and experiences. This paper discusses three issues which are of central concern to the project: identification of the sample group, appropriateness of the research methods and, finally, an examination of the assumptions underpinning the research process.     

The additional cost of disability: a new measure and its application to sensory impairment

This article introduces a method using consensual budget standards to estimate additional costs incurred by households that include disabled people with specified impairments. The article reports on a first application of this to UK single adults with sensory impairments. Using the Minimum Income Standard method, the research aims to identify the cost of disability by working with groups of disabled people to agree what additions to minimum budgets for non-disabled people are required for someone with a given impairment. This provides a more tangible account of the cost of disability than economic analysis of living standards achieved by disabled and non-disabled people, and adds to surveys of actual spending on additional items, which do not account for unmet need. The research on vision and hearing impairment yields new insights into costs arising from the way disabled people live their everyday lives, not just from spending on adaptations and equipment.     

Barriers to employment: voices of physically disabled rural women in Thailand

Employment is an essential activity that can generate income for people with disabilities, but very little is known about the interplay between disabled women, family and paid jobs. This article, therefore, sets forth a qualitative method for examining barriers that affect the employment opportunities of physically disabled women. Findings drawn from face-to-face interviews with 20 physically disabled women who live in rural poverty in Thailand clearly indicate that physical barriers from built environment, personal limitations; attitudinal barriers from the non-disabled community, especially employers; and over-protection from families limit their employment opportunities. Despite showing their interests in the labour market, these women are still left behind and trapped in rural poverty. The author argues that this situation is due to the non-disabled community ignoring the potential of these women. The author also recommends that the government of Thailand, NGOs and disability organisations should introduce strong tailored interventions and a multifaceted approach to address the medical, social and legal aspects of restricted participation in the labour market in order to improve the employment prospects of women with physical disabilities.     

An exploratory analysis of community-based disability workers’ potential to alleviate poverty and promote social inclusion of people with disabilities in three Southern African countries

This article draws on accounts by community-based disability workers (CDWs) of their life and work experiences in resource-limited rural communities in Botswana, Malawi and South Africa. Using the World Health Organisation’s community-based rehabilitation (CBR) matrix and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals as analytic frameworks, the article explores CDWs’ potential to contribute to improving the lives and increasing the levels of social, economic and political inclusion of people with disabilities, their families and communities. The article argues that CDWs’ knowledge, experience and understanding of disability in resource-limited communities may constitute an important local resource for helping to address the inter-related effects of poverty and disability in developing countries.     

Reducing disablement with adequate and appropriate resources: a New Zealand perspective

This article presents the qualitative findings from a larger mixed methods study of the barriers and costs associated with disability in New Zealand. A social model of disability framework was integrated with an economic cost model using consensual budget standards to (1) identify key barriers disabled people experience in their everyday living and (2) develop consensus about the resources disabled people agree they require to reduce or remove them. Forty-nine people with physical, hearing, vision or intellectual impairment participated in a series of 8 impairment-based focus groups. The analysis identified inaccessible environments, negative attitudes, unreliable transportation and poor access to information as key barriers. However, lack of adequate and appropriate resources (e.g. equipment, modifications, support, transport and time) to address these barriers was the overarching obstacle to participation. The inclusion of time as both a barrier and a valuable resource is arguably the most important contribution of the study.     

Chinese disability independent living policy

Despite strong statements on disability rights in Chinese legislation since 1990, independent living policy as experienced by disabled people falls short of the social inclusion goals expected from such a policy commitment. Analysis of empirical research about disabled people's experiences shows that responsibility for independent living rests primarily with disabled people and their families. Only when they have no family does the government provide support, in the form of institutional care. Very little personal assistance or community-based housing is available. Minimum income support and the introduction of social services are slowly addressing the social exclusion of disabled people in China.     

Explanatory models for disability: perspectives of health providers working in Malawi

Health providers’ understanding of disability determines how disabled people are treated, and hence it is imperative to address conceptualisations of disability, as this will contribute to better opportunities and realisation of human rights for disabled people. This article will use data from a qualitative study exploring conceptualisations of disability by 22 health service providers from the total health care system in Malawi, including the professional sector (e.g. medical doctors and nurses) and the folk sector (healers and indigenous practices). We will discuss how these perceptions influence the lives of disabled people, using the case of a health service user with physical and speech impairment as an example. Our data show that health providers largely conceptualise disability according to the medical model for disability, contributing to the exclusion of disabled people. The bio-psycho-social model for disability, largely absent as an explanatory model for disability among our informants, is the most inclusive and rights based.     

Disabling Africa: the power of depiction and the benefits of discomfort

Despite the fact that the vast majority of disabled people live in low and middle-income countries, the field of disability studies is dominated by research on disability in wealthy contexts. Although there are encouraging signs of this pattern changing, there are challenges to researchers about how to represent and think about disability in African contexts, and it is difficult not to reproduce unhelpful stereotypes. We use the example of an encounter we had with an expatriate Deaf South African to reflect on the complexities of representation facing people working on disability issues in Africa and what has been termed the Global South. We suggest that an appreciation of the productive value of discomfort about issues of representation may help move the field forward.     

Taking a risk? The mortgage industry and perceptions of disabled people

This paper examines a relatively overlooked force within disability; the appraisal of risk, with a specific focus on disability and housing. In this context the paper explores how risk can operate against disabled people, using a case study of mortgage industry responses to disabled people in the mortgage application process. Given the recent downward shift in the buoyancy of the housing market this is a timely focus. The events in the USA, which led to the sub‐prime market ‘collapse’, and the consequent impact on the UK have meant that lenders have become even more risk averse, withdrawing numerous mortgage products and reducing loan amounts. This has left many people unable to access the owner‐occupier sector, but for disabled people this can be even more difficult. The role of risk in ‘the disabling process’ is therefore of great importance, and is illustrated here through the practice of risk assessment.