Global Institutions and Their Engagement with Disability Mainstreaming in the South: Development and (Dis)Connections
With the increase of disability activism internationally, various global institutions and international development organisations have started to mainstream disability in their work, mostly at the level of rhetoric. Many have also developed disability sta
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Global Institutions and Their Engagement with Disability Mainstreaming in the South: Development and (Dis)Connections Tsitsi Chataika and Judith A. McKenzie
Introduction The historical location of disability as an individualised issue within a health and welfare framework has placed it outside the realm of development efforts that are intended to address issues of global poverty (Albert and Harrison 2006). The logic of this exclusion distinguishes development work from charity work. Poverty that is associated with disability is viewed not as structural, but as an inevitable result of personal incapacity that demands charity and not rights. This exclusion from development is evident in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were drawn up in 2000 to address global poverty (Groce 2011). Disability is not referred to in the goals, targets or indicators. This has occurred despite the mounting evidence suggesting that disabled people are more likely to be poor, hence the need for their inclusion in development efforts as a strategy of fighting global poverty (WHO and World Bank 2011). In this chapter, we review disability-inclusion processes within development prior to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (UN 2006). We then reflect on the impact of the CRPD and the World Report on Disability, exploring the possibilities of these being used as catalysts for inclusive development efforts by global institutions. We also make reference to the deliberations of the 2013 high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on disability and development as this will have a major impact on local disability initiatives (UN 2013a). We offer a critique of how these global governance programmes are implemented in the global South and suggest critical areas T. Chataika ( ) University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe e-mail: [email protected] J.A. McKenzie University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 S. Grech, K. Soldatic (eds.), Disability in the Global South, International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, and Practice, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_27
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for consideration if inclusive development is to become a reality for disabled people in the global South. Finally, we look at disability-inclusive development in Africa and the quest for an African renaissance in disability mainstreaming.
Disability in Development The connection between poverty and disability has been described as a vicious cycle, where disabled people experience stigma and exclusion, resulting in missed opportunities for education, health care and economic participation (WHO and World Bank 2011). In their study of 15 low-income countries, Mitra, Posarac and Vick established that multidimensional poverty is significantly associated with disability in most of those countries, implying that ‘persons with disabilities, on average, experience multiple deprivations at higher rates and in higher bre
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