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This paper provides one example of forming an inclusion committee in Kenya toward the vision of creating inclusive primary school campuses. We suggest the development of inclusion committees as a potential innovative strategy and a critical element of community reform toward disability awareness, and to increase access to primary school education for students with disabilities. The formation of the inclusion committee followed a member-driven process for identifying barriers to educational access for students with disabilities, prioritizing the needs within their local context, determining a plan of action to address these needs within existing community resources, and gaining access to new resources. Recognizing access to equitable education as a universal human right supported by local and international legislation, this paper works within the tensions that exist between Western constructs of education and how they are applied in post-colonial countries in the global South. Our findings suggest that establishing diverse participation among stakeholders led to even more inclusive representation; that inclusion committee actions led to local and national level involvement with the initiative; and that community-driven progress toward inclusive education presented both strengths and challenges in terms of sustainability. Finally, we discuss implications for under-resourced schools, including those in the global North.

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 1

While humanitarian organizations are increasingly recognizing women and girls with disabilities in policies and guidelines, there are still significant gaps in operationalizing this. Their needs and capacities are often under-represented in gender, protection and disability forums. Furthermore, organizations of women with disabilities, which can play a critical role in bridging the development/humanitarian divide, are not meaningfully included in humanitarian coordination and decision-making.

This report documents findings and recommendations from a participatory action research project on disability inclusion in GBV programming in humanitarian settings, conducted with communities affected by crisis and conflict.

This toolkit was created with the input and participation of persons with disabilities, as well as GBV practitioners,
over the course of the project. It is intended to support GBV staff to build disability inclusion into their work, and
to strengthen the capacity of GBV practitioners to use a survivor-centered approach when providing services to
survivors with disabilities. The tools are designed to complement existing guidelines, protocols and tools for GBV
prevention and response, and should not be used in isolation from these. GBV practitioners are encouraged to
adapt the tools to their individual programs and contexts, and to integrate pieces into standard GBV tools and
resources.

This paper is based on a study conducted with disabled people seeking asylum in the UK, using art as a means to bring out and promote people’s key messages in public spaces. The findings suggest that people with these intersecting identities lack sufficient numbers, resources or allies to assert their needs and rights in statutory, nonstatutory or even peer support organisations in the UK. This results in such deprivation and isolation, that their very existence is often obscured. The paper argues that not only does such marginalisation cause unnecessary suffering among those directly affected, but also negatively impacts on the whole population. A hierarchy of entitlement may impede recognition of the causes and commonalities of oppression and therefore also hinder solidarity. Where reduced standards become acceptable for certain people, the imposition of similar standards on others is facilitated, particularly in the context of neo-liberal austerity. Many of the recent restrictions imposed on disabled citizens and other benefit recipients have been used on disabled asylum seekers for more than a decade. If, as Barbara Young Welke suggests (2010:156) the problem is systemic, then inclusion cannot be the solution. This paper concludes that systemic change is needed to end the differential ranking of people’s worth and to build greater solidarity.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 1

This paper explores emerging and evolving critical approaches to inclusive education development work in the postcolonial, global South context of Kenya. Taking an ontoformative (Connell, 2011) perspective of disability, we view disability as a dynamic process inherently tied to social contexts and their fluid effects on disabled bodies. Thus, not all impairments are a natural form of human diversity, and many are imposed on bodies in underdeveloped countries through oppressive imported Western practices. In this paper we present our work not as models of ‘what to do’ or ‘what not to do’ in development work. Rather we offer a reflection on the evolution of our understanding and approach to this work from being merely ‘progressive’ (while further exporting Northern theory), toward a more critical and self-reflexive approach. We hope this is a starting point in a dialogical process of mutual knowledge production between the global North and South that leads to better ways of conceptualizing and supporting people with disabilities in the global South.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3

This video was made with children from Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya in 2014, in the context of a child participation activity within the “Ubuntu Care project: confronting sexual violence against children with disabilities in Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya”, implemented by the NGO Handicap International and its partners. The initiative brought disabled children together to start discussing their experiences and the cameras became an outlet for the children and members of the community to share their stories and raise awareness about important issues about confronting sexual violence against children with disabilities

Note: dialogue is in French with an option for English subtitles

This report provides a summary of research project conducted by the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Malawi. The study used the Key Informant Method (KIM) to estimate the prevalence of moderate/severe physical, sensory and intellectual impairments and epilepsy among children in two districts (Ntcheu and Thyolo) in Malawi. This report presents summary of the study’s background information, aims and objectives, key findings, conclusions and recommendations

This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed.

Background: Persons with disabilities in general face serious barriers to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services due to institutional and attitudinal barriers. However, because deaf people have unique communication and linguistic needs, which are often misunderstood or ignored, they face greater barriers than other persons with disabilities. Whilst available data indicated that there is a wide gap between knowledge and usage of contraceptive amongst Ghanaians, little is known about the level of contraceptive knowledge and usage amongst deaf people.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to investigate the level of knowledge and use of contraceptive methods amongst deaf people in Ghana with the aim of understanding their contraceptive behaviour and to improve access.

Method: The study was a participatory SRH needs assessment utilising a two-phase, sequential, mixed methods design. The study included 179 participants, consisting of focus groups with seven executives of Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD), 10 male deaf adults, and 9 deaf female adults. A total of 152 deaf people, made up of students, women, and men participated in a survey, whilst one hearing person served as a key informant.

Results: The findings of the study indicated that of the 13 methods shown in the survey, only three were known to about 70% of the adults and 60% of the students. Level of knowledge of the remaining nine methods was low.

Conclusion: Clear and effective policies are needed to guide the provision of SRH information and services for deaf people in Ghana.

"This toolkit is designed as a practical resource for disabled people's organisations (DPOs), particularly those working in the global South, on how to use research knowledge in their programmes, campaigning and advocacy work"
Note: contact publisher to request copies of this toolkit in alternative formats