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In this blog, Rasak Adekoya (Programme Officer Inclusion Works, Sightsavers Nigeria) shares his career story, tells us about his role helping employers appreciate candidates and employees with disabilities, and what it’s like leading a film shoot as a blind person.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the UK government or members of the Inclusion Works consortium

This publication reflects back on four co-design processes undertaken by Light for the World’s Disability Inclusion Lab during the past few years. These different journeys in solution development have demonstrated the power of this methodology to create genuine inclusion in livelihood programming while striving to empower persons with disabilities to achieve economic success. In this publication the social innovation lab methodology is described as a unique approach to inclusive programming, highlighting four cases: The Livelihood Improvement Challenge in Uganda, the lab in the EmployAble programme in Ethiopia, the AgriLab in Cambodia, and the InBusiness pilot in Kenya. Lessons learnt are described.

This open access book introduces the human development model to define disability and map its links with health and wellbeing, based on Sen’s capability approach. The author uses panel survey data with internationally comparable questions on disability for Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. It presents evidence on the prevalence of disability and its strong and consistent association with multidimensional poverty, mortality, economic insecurity and deprivations in education, morbidity and employment. It shows that disability needs to be considered from multiple angles including aging, gender, health and poverty. Ultimately, this study makes a call for inclusion and prevention interventions as solutions to the deprivations associated with impairments and health conditions.

Chapters include:

• The Human Development Model of Disability, Health and Wellbeing
• Measurement, Data and Country Context
• Prevalence of Functional Difficulties
• Functional Difficulties and Inequalities Through a Static Lens
• Dynamics of Functional Difficulties and Wellbeing
• Main Results and Implications

Background: Despite Uganda’s progress in promoting affirmative action for persons with disabilities and its strategy of using microfinance to fight poverty, access to microfinance services by persons with disabilities is still problematic due to barriers, characterised by discrepancies between policies and practices. Regarding education, the affirmative action in favour of learners with disabilities has not translated into actual learning opportunities due to personal and environmental barriers.

Objectives: The study on which this article is based investigated the non-formal and informal adult learning practices regarding microfinance that persons with disabilities engaged in. This article seeks to illuminate the barriers that a person with a visual impairment encountered while learning about and engaging with microfinance and the strategies that he developed to overcome them.

Methods: This was a case study, framed within the social model of disability and critical research paradigm. Data were collected through in-depth interviews of a person with visual impairment and observations of the environment in which adult learning and engagement with Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) occurred.

Results: Findings indicate that the person with a visual disability faced barriers to learning about microfinance services. He experienced barriers in an integrated manner and developed strategies to overcome these barriers. The barriers and strategies are theorised using the social model of disability.

Conclusion: The case of a person with visual impairment suggests that persons with disabilities face multiple barriers regarding microfinance, including social, psychological and educational. However, his own agency and attitudes were also of importance as they influenced his learning. Viewing these barriers as blockades can lead to non-participation in learning and engagement with microfinance whereas viewing them as surmountable hurdles can potentially motivate participants to succeed in learning about and engaging with microfinance.

This systematic review analyses the methodology, collection, and results of fourteen individual studies that examined the effectiveness of fifteen different intervention methods to assist students with disabilities in low and middle income countries to improve the labour market situation

Campbell Systematic Reviews 2015:20

Background: Vision impairment, resulting in vision difficulties, is a leading cause of disability, and hence one of the key barriers for people to access education and employment, which may force them into poverty.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-reported vision difficulties as an indicator of vision impairment in economically disadvantaged regions in South Africa, and to examine the relationship between self-reported vision difficulties and socio-economic markers of poverty, namely, income, education and health service needs.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in economically disadvantaged districts to collect data from households on poverty and health, including vision difficulty. As visual acuity measurements were not conducted, the researchers used the term vision difficulty as an indicator of vision impairment. Data were collected from 27 districts (74 901 respondents). Logistic regression analysis and chi-square tests were used to determine bivariate relationships between variables and self-reported vision difficulty. Kernel density estimators were used for age, categorised by self-reported and not reported vision difficulty.

Results: Prevalence of self-reported vision difficulty was 11.2% (95% CI, 8.7% – 13.7%). More women (12.7%) compared to men (9.5%) self-reported vision difficulty (p < 0.01). Self-reported vision difficulty was higher (14.2%) for respondents that do not spend any money. A statistically significant relationship was found between the highest level of education and self-reporting of vision difficulty; as completed highest level of education increased, self-reporting of vision difficulty became lower (p < 0.01). A significantly higher prevalence of self-reported vision difficulty was found in respondents who are employed (p < 0.01), 17% (95% CI: 12.8% – 21.1%).

Conclusion: The evidence from this study suggests associations between socio-economic factors and vision difficulties that have a two-fold relationship (some factors such as education, and access to eye health services are associated with vision difficulty whilst vision difficulty may trap people in their current poverty or deepen their poverty status). The results are thus indicative of the need for further research in South Africa.