Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2019, Vol. 6 No. 2
2019
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12 records. Displaying 1 to 12 of 12.
Social participation and inclusion of ex-combatants with disabilities in Colombia
RIVAS VELARDE, Minerva
Del ROCIO GARZON DIAZ, Karim
SHAKESPEARE, Tom
2019
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The purpose of this paper is to explore ex-combatants’ understandings of disability and the pathways for social reintegration available to them in Colombia. The qualitative data for the study include seven in-depth interviews with ex-combatants and 29 with key informants, including disabled people’s organisations, government agencies, international organisations and academic groups. Findings suggest that transition to civilian life for ex-combatants is made more difficult by inadequate procedures, lack of support and complex administrative data vacuums. Social determinants, historical prejudice against persons with disabilities, high levels of unemployment and political polarisation in a post conflict context combine to trigger poverty traps. The findings indicate pitfalls in the early implementation of the Colombian peace process, which did not consider structural issues that affected transition to civilian life for ex-combatants with disabilities. Furthermore, key enablers for social inclusion such as peer-to-peer support have been identified by respondents. This paper concludes that more needs to be done to enhance the voices of ex-combatants with disabilities and to understand the profound meaning of acquiring impairments through participation in conflict, as well as how post-conflict responses could enable these individuals to gain the skills they need to successfully reintegrate into their communities.
Disability and the Global South, 2019, Vol.6, No. 2
Participation, agency and disability in Brazil: transforming psychological practices into public policy from a human rights perspective
GESSER, Marivete
BLOCK, Pamela
NUERNBERG, Adriano Henrique
2019
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Participation is a little discussed or researched concept in the social sciences, despite its importance in understanding activism. This article presents some theoretical and methodological considerations for promoting social participation and agency for disabled people through the work of psychologists associated with Brazilian public policies. This article takes the form of a discursive study, based on the dialogue between: a) Brazilian legislation on disability; b) Bader Sawaia’s Ethical-Political Psychology; and c) Disability Studies. Based on the assumption that psychological practices should promote participation and agency for disabled people, we present the elements that hinder or control participation. We then present theoretical methodological contributions to build practices that promote participation and agency, highlighting: a) critiques of moral and biomedical models of disability; b) understandings of disability from intersectional perspectives that incorporate it as a category of analysis; c) including disabled people in the construction of research and professional practices disabled people and d) the rupture with ableism, which blocks the participation of disabled people. Participation has shown to be a multidimensional concept that covers a spectrum of aspects – from the practice of activism to the constitution of subjectivity in disabled people.
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2019, Vol. 6 No. 2
SDGs, Inclusive Health and the path to Universal Health Coverage
HASHEMI, Goli
KUPER, Hannah
WICKENDEN, Mary
2017
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The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of goals designed to improve the social, economic and well-being of all, while maintaining global and environmental sustainability. Health is one of the 17 goals, and focuses not only on addressing morbidity and mortality, but also on improving access to healthcare services for all through Universal Health Coverage (UHC). While disability is not specifically mentioned in this goal, a focus on people with disabilities is important given the inclusive nature of the SDGs and the fact that people with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the world. This paper aims to critically consider what the health goal could mean for people with disabilities and advocates for inclusive health. It discusses the complex relationship between disability and health, and why people with disabilities are more vulnerable to poor health are discussed, and then considers factors that impact access to quality healthcare for people with disabilities and how these impact on the achievement of the targets in SDG Health Goal and the main principles of UHC. The paper argues that developing an inclusive approach to healthcare will not only improve achieving good health for all, but is also important since experiencing poor health may reduce quality of life and participation (e.g. in education, employment or community activities). Poor quality of life and participation can exacerbate disability, poverty and exclusion in addition to increasing suffering, morbidity and early mortality. The paper concludes that an inclusive UHC will not only fulfil the fundamental rights of people with disabilities to health and rehabilitation, as emphasized within the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but also contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1
Towards a ‘mind map’ for evaluative thinking in Community Based Rehabilitation: reflections and learning
WEBER, Joerg
GRECH, Shaun
POLACK, Sarah
2016
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Calls for evaluations in Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), in particular those of a participatory nature have stepped up in recent years. Much of this shifting discourse has emerged in response to the fact that evaluations overall remain scarce. Furthermore, very little is known about the impacts of CBR in practice and if/how it benefits persons with disabilities and their families on the ground. Nevertheless, and despite the calls for participatory approaches, the few existing efforts are too often targeted at creating standardised evaluations frequently at the expense of voice, participation and flexibility. This paper reports on a series of critical workshops held in Jamaica with CBR workers and other stakeholders, the objectives of which included discussions and reflections on emerging issues in localised, locally driven and responsive participatory evaluation frameworks. The findings highlight how participants favoured a flexible, adaptive and iterative approach that was not rigid, structured or per-determined by outsiders. Instead, they favoured an approach that created a safe space for sharing and learning, prioritised their narratives, and that was directly linked to and that fed directly into action on the ground. The paper concludes with the call for critical, engaged and bottom-up approaches that move away from control-oriented approaches in CBR towards more experimental and adaptive problem and process-oriented approaches, that embrace complexity and that are consistently responsive to an ever changing context.
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2
Participation of persons with disabilities in political activities in Cameroon
OPOKUA, Maxwell Peprah
MPRAH, Wisdom Kwadwo
SAKA, Bernard Nsaidzedze
2016
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The right to participate in political activities is a fundamental human right for every citizen in a country, but this right is often not available to persons with disabilities. This study investigated the level of and barriers to political participation of persons with disabilities in the Buea municipality in Cameroon. A qualitative data collection method, consisting of three focus group discussions with 36 persons with disabilities was conducted. Participants were selected from three categories of persons with disabilities- visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired- who were residing in the Buea municipality. The study found that the involvement of persons with disabilities in politics in the area was minimal as socio-economic, cultural and physical barriers hindered their participation in political activities at both local and national levels. The study concludes that there should be conscious efforts though affirmative actions to promote and respect the rights of persons with disabilities and make the political environment more accessible to persons with disabilities in Cameroon.
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 2
2016
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Articles include:
- Towards a ‘mind map’ for evaluative thinking in Community Based Rehabilitation: reflections and learning
- Participation of persons with disabilities in political activities in Cameroon
- The medical inadmissibility of intellectual disability: A Postcolonial reading of Canadian immigration systems
- Research principles and research experiences: critical reflection on conducting a PhD dissertation on global health and disability
- Contingencias normalizadoras en la relación Discapacidad–Trabajo en Francia y Uruguay
Interrogating the impact of scientific and technological development on disabled children in India and beyond
WOLBRING, Gregor
GHAI, Anita
2015
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Products of scientific and technological developments are emerging at an ever increasing speed whereby these developments impact the daily life of humans in numerous ways. We focus for this paper on two classes of emerging products; one being social robots and the other being products that are envisioned to increase the cognitive abilities of humans beyond the species-typical and their impact on aspects of childhood such as education and self-identity formation. We analyse the utility and impact of these two classes of products through the lens of the alternative report on India to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Committee on the Rights of Children authored by the by National Disability Network of India and the lens of ability expectations. We posit that the discourses around these two classes of emerging products do not address the problems the alternative report raises, but could heighten the problems identified by the report. We believe the two classes of products highlight the need for ability expectation governance.
Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 2
Typhoon Haiyan one year on: Disability, poverty and participation in the Philippines
COBLEY, David
2015
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This article explores the relationship between disability, poverty and participation in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on 8th November 2013, based on field research conducted at the time of Haiyan’s first anniversary. Fieldwork included interviews exploring disabled people’s experiences, their priorities and the challenges facing them in the year since Haiyan. The analysis, which draws on a three-level typology of participation and Sen’s (1999) capability perspective, concludes that disabled people have the potential to participate as active agents in disaster planning and recovery processes, both individually and collectively, at various levels. Furthermore, supporting disabled people to participate effectively, through flexible approaches, capacity building and the forging of pro-poor alliances, can reduce poverty in capability terms, as well as raising awareness of the largely untapped potential of disabled people to contribute to the shaping of more inclusive societies.
Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3
Partnerships for disability research in Africa: Lessons learned in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
ALDERSEY, Heather
WENDA, Delphine Assumani
2015
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Issues concerning individuals with disabilities are under-researched in Africa, and persons with disabilities remain some of the most highly disadvantaged groups. In an increasing era of globalization, partnerships across borders and boundaries to conduct disability research is inevitable. Yet, such partnerships might be complicated by issues such as unequal power dynamics, poverty, and cultural misunderstandings, among others. In this article, the authors reflect upon their experience partnering for disability research across cultures, with one author being a Congolese person with a disability and the other being a Canadian ally. They discuss the nature of their research relationship, challenges they faced while conducting a seven-month study of personhood and support for people with intellectual disabilities in Kinshasa, and how they addressed these challenges. They also outline lessons learned from this partnership and how their past experience collaborating for disability research will shape their future endeavours.
Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3
Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3
2015
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Articles include:
- Typhoon Haiyan One Year On: Disability, Poverty and Participation in the Philippines
- Beneath the rhetoric: Policy to reduce the mental health treatment gap in Africa
- Working within the tensions of disability and education in post-colonial Kenya: Toward a praxis of critical disability studies
- How disability studies and ecofeminist approaches shape research: exploring small-scale farmer perceptions of banana cultivation in the Lake Victoria region, Uganda
- Partnerships for Disability Research in Africa: Lessons Learned in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Representation, Access and Contestation: Facebook and Vision Impairment in Jordan, India, and Peru
Disability Sport in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Economic Underdevelopment to Uneven Empowerment
NOVAK, Andrew
2014
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Although athletes with disabilities have integrated into mainstream sport at a rapid rate across the world, Sub-Saharan Africa remains on the periphery of disability sport participation. Disability sport, like most modern regulated sports, has diffused from the Global North to the Global South, and continues to reproduce that process of diffusion though increasingly expensive sport prostheses, adapted equipment, and coaching techniques. The colonial underdevelopment of disability services and coexisting racial inequalities has led to the uneven diffusion of disability sport across the continent, which is reflected by South Africa’s domination of African participation in the Paralympic Games. The result is a ‘disability divide’ in international sport, where the increasing access to technology and sport assistance from the Global North largely benefits a few privileged elite disability athletes, most famously South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. Presented from a historical perspective, the article traces the origins of the ‘disability divide,’ concluding that integration between disabled and non-disabled athletes around the world may reinforce the continent of Africa’s subordinate status in global capitalism through dependence on international sport aid and athletic migration.
Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2014, Vol. 1 No. 1
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