ADDC :: Australian Disability & Development Consortium

“Poor people are disproportionately disabled, and people with disabilities are disproportionately poor”

Robert Holzmann, Director of World Bank’s Social Protection Department, 2001.

Disability and poverty reinforce one another – intensifying marginalization and insecurity for PwDs. PwDs are among the poorest of the poor, while people living in poverty are more at risk than others to become disabled. According to the UN, 10% of the world’s population have a disability, with about 75% living in the developing world. [1] [2]

Source: [3]

With up to 50% of disabilities preventable and poverty-related, scaling-up prevention interventions must be a priority, in conjunction with treatment and rehabilitation. Enhancing the overall living standard of people living in poverty and improving general health services can play a major role in reducing disability incidence rates throughout the developing world.

Publications & Resources

Fact Sheets

• Inclusion International:
  Fact Sheet on Poverty and Disability
• Australian Council for International Development (ACFID):
  Fact Sheet on Disability and the Millennium Development Goals (2003)
• Christian Blind Mission (CBM):
  Fact Sheet on Disability and Poverty

Policies & Papers

• Department for International Development (DFID) [UK]:
  Poverty: Bridging the Gap (2005)
• 400 million R:
  400 million R (2006)
• Asian Development Bank (ADB):
  Disability Brief (2005)
• Asian Development Bank (ADB):
  Disabled People and Development (2006)
• Christian Blind Mission (CBM):
  Disability and Development Policy

Reports

• Action on Disability and Development (ADD):
  Chronic Poverty and Disability (2001)
• Asian Development Bank (LJ Edmonds):
  Disabled People & Development (2005)
• Christoffel-Blindenmission & Handicap International:
  Making PRSP Inclusive (2006)
• Department for International Development (DFID) [UK]:
  Disability, Poverty and Development (2000)
• Department for International Development (DFID) [UK]:
  Disability, Poverty and Development (2005)
• Disability Knowledge and Research (Disability KaR):
  Disability, Poverty and Millennium Development Goals (2005)
• Handicap International:
  Good Practices for the Economic Inclusion of People with Disabilities
  in Developing Countries – Funding Mechanisms for Self-Employment(2006)
• International Labour Organisation (ILO):
  Disability and Poverty Reduction Strategies (2002)
• Inclusion International:
  Hear our Voices: People with an Intellectual Disability and their Families Speak Out on Poverty and Exclusion (2006)
• Inclusion International:
  Poverty and Disability in the Americas (2004)
• United Nations ESCAP:
  Disability at a Glance: a Profile of 28 Countries and Areas
  in Asia and the Pacific (2006)

Links

• Disability KaR:
  Links to disability and poverty resources
• Independent Living Institute:
  Social Responses to Disability & Poverty in Economically Weaker Countries: Research, Trends, Critique, and Lessons Usually Not Learnt. Annotated bibliography of modern and historical material
• World Bank Disability Page:
  With links to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
• Ask Source:
  Disability and Poverty Reduction links

[Click here for other disability & development links]

References

1. Bank, W., Disability Statistics. 2006, World Bank.
2. Helander, E., Prejudice and Dignity – An Introduction to Community Based Rehabilitation, UNDP, Editor. 1993, UNDP: New York.
3. DFID, Disability, poverty and development. 2000, DFID: London. p. 17.