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Success in Africa: People with disabilities share their stories

SHAKESPEARE, Tom
MUGEERE, Anthony
NYARIKI, Emily
SIMBAYA, Joseph
2019

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Background: Whereas most narratives of disability in sub-Saharan Africa stress barriers and exclusion, Africans with disabilities appear to show resilience and some appear to achieve success. In order to promote inclusion in development efforts, there is a need to challenge narratives of failure.

 

Objectives: To gather life histories of people with disabilities in three sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone) who have achieved economic success in their lives and to analyse factors that explain how this success has been achieved.

 

Methods: Qualitative research study of economic success involving life history interviews with 105 participants with disabilities from both urban and rural settings recruited through disabled people’s organisations and non-governmental organisation partners, framework analysis of transcripts to chart success and success factors.

 

Results: Participants had faced barriers in education, employment and family life. They had largely surmounted these barriers to achieve success on an equal basis with others. They were working in private and public sectors and were self-employed farmers, shopkeepers and craftspeople.

 

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that, given the right support, disabled people can achieve economic success, with the implication being that investment in education or training of disabled people can be productive and should be part of overall development efforts for economic reasons, not solely to achieve social justice goals.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

‘We create our own small world’: daily realities of mothers of disabled children in a South African urban settlement

VAN DER MARK, Elise J
CONRADIE, Ina
DEDDING, Christine W M
BROERSE, Jacqueline E W
2018

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Parents of disabled children face many challenges. Understanding their experiences and acknowledging contextual influences is vital in developing intervention strategies that fit their daily realities. However, studies of parents from a resource-poor context are particularly scarce. This ethnographic study with 30 mothers from a South African township (15 semi-structured interviews and 24 participatory group sessions) unearths how mothers care on their own, in an isolated manner. The complexity of low living standards, being poorly supported by care structures and networks, believing in being the best carer, distrusting others due to a violent context, and resigning towards life shape and are shaped by this solitary care responsibility. For disability inclusive development to be successful, programmes should support mothers by sharing the care responsibility taking into account the isolated nature of mothers’ lives and the impact of poverty. This can provide room for these mothers to increase the well-being of themselves and their children.

Supporting Parents in Caring for Children with Disability in Ghana

BESTEN, Joyce den
CORNIELJE, Marije Tebogo
CORNIELJE, Huib
BOTWEY, David Norden
2016

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Purpose: This study assesses the factors that influence the wellbeing of caregivers and their children with a disability, in a rural and an urban site in Ghana. The wellbeing of parents, not surprisingly, influences the wellbeing of their children. A better understanding of the role and challenges faced by parents in caring for their child with a disability will help to improve existing services and support for children with disability.

 

Methods: Twenty-five parents of children with different disabilities participated in a PhotoVoice study. Photographs taken by parents, to show the challenges they experienced in childcare, were explained and discussed during focus group discussions. The Cantril Ladder was used to discuss subjective wellbeing.

 

Results: The photographs and discussions with parents indicated that the extensive time spent on their child, the child’s poor health status, and lack of educational opportunities had a negative influence on the wellbeing of both parent and child. Parents struggle to earn an income to provide for a child with disability. This often causes them to sink into (even deeper) poverty, and further increases the challenge to provide the (specific) care that a child with disability needs.

 

Conclusions and Implications: If governments, non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations want to contribute to the wellbeing of children with disability, they should be aware of the immediate context of the child, namely the family, and of the specific needs of the parents. Since the wellbeing of parents can affect the wellbeing of the child, and a child with disability may often cause further poverty in the family, relieving parents from some of the demands of childcare could help them to generate income, to the ultimate benefit of the entire family. Organisations working for children with a disability should actively involve parents of these children in designing and implementing interventions.

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