Poverty and Disability
Mahesh
1st Feb 06
- for the ‘National Conference on ‘Poverty and Disability’ and ‘Improving Quality of Life of Persons with Intellectual Disability’ organised by Parivaar and Inclusion International on 1 Feb 2006 at United Theological College, Bangalore
In my presentation I have tried to cover some aspects on the nature of links between ‘Poverty and Disability’ in India.
There has been noticeable change in the understanding of disability in recent years.
The medical understanding of disability is on what “is wrong” with someone. And therefore people with disabilities are poor or face social exclusion as a result of the natural functional limitations, imposed by their ‘disabilities’.
Today, as the disability movement internationally has grown in strength there is a new language emerging by which we can define disability in the way we experience .
It can be summed in a statement made by a young man who had polio – “As an individual, I don’t have any regret but others underestimate me, they keep reminding me of what I cannot do”. This is what we commonly experience.
We are disadvantaged not by the impairments, but as a result of the limitations imposed by attitude, social, cultural, economic, and environmental barriers to our participation in society.
The social definition of disability has given rise to the Social Model of addressing issues of disability which has also promoted the idea that disabled people should be in control of their own lives, rather than passive recipients of care and charity.
This also equates to the current thinking on a human-rights based approach to development.
India is both a developed and developing nation. It is the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing-power and a global leader in information technology. Just before the beginning of the high profile World Economic Forum meeting at Davos, the government has decided to allow up to 51% Foreign Direct Investment for retail trade. This move will allow multinational companies like Nike, Reebok to set-up production facilities, distribution network and retail outlets of their own. Would this mean that more disabled people will get jobs? Will people with disabilities have access to suitable rehabilitation services like customised wheelchair, catheters at affordable prices? Or will the majority of people with disabilities get poorer because they not counted or because they cannot afford them? Would it be difficult for us to find the answers?
India is also home to one third of the world’s poorest people, with 350 million people (35 per cent of the population) living on less than US$1 a day.
It has one of the highest infant mortality rates (67 per 1000 live births) and maternal mortality rates (540 per 100,000 live births). Over half (53 per cent) of children under five are malnourished, 33 million children have never been to school, and nearly 36 per cent drop out before completing primary education. India also has the world’s largest population of illiterate people.
There is no national data on the nature and depth of poverty experienced by disabled people compared to non-disabled people. As a result, most of the evidence is by and large qualitative guesstimates.
Poverty is the biggest cause of disability in India. And 35% of the people who live below the poverty line in India are most vulnerable to disability as poor people are often forced to live and work in unsafe environments.
In India, disabled people are seen as passive victims requiring charitable help. People with disabilities are often made to feel useless, looked down upon, and treated as people who are incapable of doing things.
People with disabilities are more likely to be among the poorest of the poor than the non disabled in India, but due to overwhelming social exclusion of people with disabilities, people like me consider disability as a rights based issues first and then as an issue of poverty.
Disability is related to poverty. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of disability.
The economic costs of disability relate to -
* direct costs of treatment,
* cost of travel
* foregone income due to disability
* indirect costs to others who provide care and support to the disabled person.
Disabled people in India tend to be:
* over-represented among the poor
* poorly educated
* unemployed
* vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, especially disabled women
* socially marginalised, underestimated and teased.
They tend to lack:
* voice
* access to healthcare, assistive devices and rehabilitation
* vocational training and income generation skills
* access to disability benefits
* confidence and awareness of their rights and entitlements
The degree of social exclusion that a disabled person will face varies enormously according to his or her status as an individual, as well as the type and severity of the impairment and, in particular, his or her gender.
Disabled people share the profile of the general poor, but they experience poverty more intensely and have fewer opportunities to escape poverty than the non-disabled.
In India, we have all the key components – National policies, legislations, mechanisms for monitoring, implementing and procedures for redress. In theory, all the key components are in place for success in India, and resources (both human and financial) do not present a significant barrier. However, despite all these positives, in reality, the situation for the average disabled Indian is bleak.
There are no easy answers or quick fixes when it comes to the inclusion of disabled people and this is the case in many societies. The major obstacles appear to be more attitudinal rather than structural.
The relationship between disability and poverty is often described as a vicious circle. Here, it is argued that in fact, both disability and poverty are often manifestations of the same processes.
To conclude
In reality, as Philippa Thomas has written, “disabled people share the general profile of the non-disabled poor” (2005:4). And as noted in the report, Are Disabled Peoples’ Voices being Heard?:
“Poverty is not simply a matter of incomes that are too low to meet basic subsistence needs. It is above all, a symptom of imbedded structural imbalances, which manifest themselves in all domains of human existence. As such, poverty is highly correlated with social exclusion, marginalisation, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation and other economic, political, social and cultural dimensions of deprivation…It results from limited or no access to basic infrastructure and services, and is further compounded by people’s lack of access to land, credit, technology and institutions and to other productive assets and resources needed to ensure sustainable livelihoods.” (1995 Poverty Assessment Study Report cited by Dube and Charowa 2005:9)
And finally don’t these attributes of poverty also relate to disability?
Today, in Bangalore I have come across few opening through e-mails for people with disabilities in the IT (Information technology) sector however many of the people with disabilities whom I know are unable to make use of this opportunity as they do not have degree level education…and hence are more disabled due to their education than the disabilities we seem to perceive…
I am closing with the hope that our visions of addressing the issues of people with disabilities will also give equal importance to address the structural imbalances that are currently in existence and practiced.
Thank you….
Reference:
Philippa Thomas, Mainstreaming disability in development: India country
report (June 2005)
David Seddon and Rebecca Yeo, Disability, poverty and the ‘new’ development
agenda (July 2005)
Carol Miller and Bill Albert, Mainstreaming disability in development: lessons
from gender mainstreaming (March 2005)