ADD | working with disabled people for positive change | FAQs

Rates of disability tend to be higher among people living in poverty due to lower education and income levels which means they cannot afford adequate healthcare or a nutritious diet. A lack of healthcare and nutrition means that a disabled child is more likely be born to a poor woman, or that she will be left with an impairment following birth.

Generally anyone living in poverty is exposed to risks which often result in becoming disabled and individuals, as well as families with a disabled family member, are usually poorer.

Currently the world population is around 7,000,000,000. The World report on disability (WHO/World Bank, 2011) estimates that 15% of us are disabled people, that’s 1,050,000,000 people. This number is constantly increasing due to ageing population and the global increase in chronic health conditions associated with disability, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mental illness.

Of those 80% live in developing countries.

No, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities deliberately avoided definition, instead recognising disability as an evolving concept.

In most cases, disabled people are simply not reached by traditional development cooperation measures. This is partly due to the fact that they are the poorest of the poor, a group that is invariably hard to reach because they are hidden away, not spoken about or counted.

Also, because of stigma and discrimination, disabled people are often excluded from participating in development projects. At best they are the last people to benefit – at worse they miss out completely.

AusAID estimate that only 3 to 4 per cent of disabled people benefit from international development assistance in their Development for All: Towards a disability-inclusive Australian aid program 2009–2014 report.

Social inclusion is not an act of charity but a human right. As the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities clearly states, participation and equality of access for all persons are not by-products of effective development cooperation they are its preconditions.

By removing the barriers faced by disabled people, society as a whole is more accessible – the benefits of inclusion are not limited to people with disabilities. They make life easier for many other people too.

Everyone has the right to choose how to describe their own identity and experiences, some prefer to use ‘people with disabilities’ others prefer to use ‘disabled people’.

The UK disability movement uses 'disabled people', based on the idea that disability stems from the barriers disabled people face on a daily basis: prejudice, negative stereotyping, lack of accessible transport, housing and information and a lack of understanding of the needs and rights of disabled people.

The countries we work in use ‘people (or persons) with disabilities’. This way, placing the noun ‘people (or persons)’ before ‘disabilities’ emphasises the fact that individuals who are disabled by society are people first.

In the main, this website uses the term ‘disabled people’ except when what you are reading has come from our country offices where we respect their own terminology.

Working both internationally and in the UK, Sally has extensive experience in qualitative research and participatory evaluation as well as policy and strategy development. Much of her work has focused on promoting the rights of disabled people underp

Ian is a professional senior fundraising leader with significant experience in driving and managing business change across a range of UK charities and cross-sector consortia.

Andy joined ADD from VSO, where, following a stint of volunteering, he worked as a Regional Finance Officer supporting the finance teams across 8 countries in Asia. Based in their office in Nepal, he was a regular visitor to China, Mongolia, Tajikist

For the billion plus people living in poverty, the daily fight to survive is tough enough. The situation is worse for disabled people who struggle with the additional challenges of discrimination, ignorance and social exclusion from their families and communities.

Living on the very outskirts of life, disabled people face an almost overwhelming lack of access to an education, health care, employment, political participation, social and family life, to name a few. This makes disabled people the poorest, most excluded and neglected people in the developing world today.

Most of us are aware that an astounding 67 million children are not attending school. But did you know that nearly 22.5 million are disabled children?

Ignorance and discrimination means that many disabled children living in poor countries are hidden away and neither accounted for or counted. So even though there are many organisations doing fantastic work getting more children into school, disabled children are missing out because no-one knows they are there!

Disabled children have the same dreams and aspirations as their non-disabled peers, and those dreams start with an education. Without it they don’t just miss out on an education, but the opportunity to reach their full potential in life and pursue their dreams.

More than 90% of disabled children in developing countries do not attend school (UNESCO)
For every child killed in warfare, three are injured and permanently disabled (UN)
Violence against children with disabilities occurs at annual rates at least 1.7 times greater than for their non-disabled peers (UN)

Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions with as many as 70 per cent experiencing physical or sexual violence from men at some point in their lives – usually by their husband, partner or someone they know.

This unacceptable situation is even worse for disabled girls and women who, according to the UN, are 1.5 to ten times as likely to be physically or sexually abused as a non-disabled woman and that disabled children are 4 to 5 times more likely to experience violence and sexual abuse than non-disabled children.

Only 1% of disabled women are literate (UNDP)
A study of violence against women in 2007 found that 50% of disabled women worldwide experience abuse (UN)
A 2004 survey in Orissa, India, found that virtually all of the disabled women and girls were beaten at home, 25% of women with intellectual disabilities had been raped and 6% of disabled women had been forcibly sterilised (Mohapatra and Mahanty)

Emilienne Sanon, Regional Director for Francophone West Africa

Working with disabled people in Africa and Asia for positive change. Get to know us better.

FAQs