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“This Time of Corona Has Been Hard”: People with Disabilities’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya

ROHWERDER, Brigitte
NJUNGI, Josephine
WICKENDEN, Mary
THOMPSON, Stephen
SHAW, Jackie
June 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic is deepening pre-existing inequalities. Emerging research suggests that people with disabilities across the world have experienced various rights violations and been disproportionality affected by the health, economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it. The aim of this research was to explore how people with disabilities, who often are excluded from research, have experienced the evolving COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya. To better understand how it has affected jobseekers with disabilities, in-depth qualitative research was conducted in Kenya as part of the Inclusion Works programme.

Disability and Indigeneity: intersectionality of identity from the experience of Indigenous people at a global level

GILROY, John
UTTJEK, Margaretha
LOVERN, Lavonna
WARD, John
2021

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The authors of this paper have protested, fought, written extensively and represent the broader theoretical foundations of Indigenous and disability research by focusing on their standpoint perspectives informed by their ancestral spirits and knowledge. Based on our knowledge, cultures, and advocacy skills, this paper collectively explores and compares the intersections of Indigeneity and disability as an embodied identity in four countries: USA, Canada, Sweden, and Australia. This is accomplished by beginning with a brief synopsis of colonization to provide context and then examine the consequences of Western assimilation practices, including academic support of the Western status quo. The paper will then turn to the impact of both colonization and academic constructs on Indigenous epistemologies and ideas of self in disability dialogues. Finally, the paper will focus on Indigenous concepts of difference to not only advance Western disability discussions, but also as a way for Western dialogue to overcome its predilection to hierarchical binaries.

Reducing albinism related stigma in Tanzania: an exploration of the impact of radio drama and radio interview

DE GROOT, T M M
VELDMAN, M
JACQUET, W
PETERS, R M H
VANWING, T
MEURS, P
2021

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Reducing stigma is key to improving the wellbeing of people with albinism in Tanzania. This study aimed to obtain more insight into the effects of two radio interventions with regard to albinism-related stigma: a radio drama and a radio interview. Assessment of the radio interventions was based on two attitude measurement instruments (The Albinism Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue Community Stigma Scale and the Albinism Social Distance Scale), an entertainment scale, and two informal (group) interviews. In total, 111 community members participated in the assessment prior to the radio drama, and 65 after. In the case of the radio interview, 123 community members participated in the assessment prior to the radio show, and 77 after. Following the radio drama, a significant reduction was found in terms of community stigma, and a reduction in social distance was found after both interventions. The entertainment score for both interventions was high, but significantly higher for the radio drama. The respondents indicated that they had gained more understanding of albinism as a result of the interventions, and were positive about this type of education. The current study shows that a radio show in which the listener interacts with someone with albinism can contribute to a reduction in stigma, and demonstrates that different types of radio intervention can have different outcomes.

Covid-19 Income loss, risk of violence and the response of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in Uganda

ADD International
November 2020

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Findings from this report show evidence that some persons with disabilities face multiple types of jeopardy during Covid-19: they are at an increased risk of violence and are suffering a dramatic loss in household earnings. They are also taking action: many plan to adapt their livelihood and are mobilising resources for their communities. Persons with disabilities ask government and NGOs to do more and to be more inclusive in their response to the crisis.

● Three of four respondents report increased risk of violence since the pandemic began. 77% of women and 80% of men report an increase in economic, physical, psychological and/or sexual violence after Covid-19.

● One in three women respondents report experiencing an increased risk of physical and/or sexual violence.

● Livelihood support could reduce violence risk. Three in four (76%) of respondents say livelihood support, such as start up capital for small business, would be very or extremely useful to them in order to reduce their risk of experiencing violence during Covid-19.

● Respondents report losing 64% of their monthly household income since the outbreak. After adjusting for purchase power parity, this is the equivalent of falling from 181 GBP to 65 GBP per month.

● Covid-19 support is unequal and insufficient for many. Where support has been distributed, one in two report that they do not receive the same protection support (ie PPE) as others; one in four report that they do not receive the same Covid-19 survival support (ie food); one in three report they do not receive the same Covid-19 information; and one in three say that support does not meet need.

● Most respondents will try something new. 59% indicate that they will start something new to make ends meet if the situation continues.

● OPDs are obtaining food support through lobbying, providing vital psychosocial support and information.

● Some OPDs are not able to respond because they are capacity-constrained.

● Government and NGOs can do more.


From these interviews and findings, some recommendations emerge for government and NGOs:

● Support livelihood to reduce violence risk and increase survival strategies.

● Increase access to capital.

● Meaningfully engage persons with disabilities and their respective organisations in response planning and implementation.

● Ensure distribution of support reaches persons with disabilities, more specifically the underrepresented groups.

● Change attitudes toward and increase knowledge about persons with disabilities.

Disability Royal Commission: WWDA’s response to education and learning issues paper

SANDS, Therese
April 2020

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In 2019 the Disability Royal Commission released an issues paper on education and learning. The issues paper asked 13 questions based on some of the key issues and barriers experienced by students with disability.

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) have now submitted their response to the issues paper which highlights key recommendations to improve the lives and experiences of students with disability. The recommendations stem from the following key areas:

  • Inclusive education
  • Intersectionality
  • Inequality and discrimination underpin violence
  • Restrictive practices – torture and ill-treatment
  • Exposing violence – desegregated data and intersectionality
  • Building strengths through inclusive education

Critique of deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe

MLADENOV, Teodor
PETRI, Gabor
2019

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In this paper, we explore critically deinstitutionalisation reform, focusing specifically on the postsocialist region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We argue that deinstitutionalisation in postsocialist CEE has generated re-institutionalising outcomes, including renovation of existing institutions and/or creation of new, smaller settings that have nevertheless reproduced key features of institutional life. To explain these trends, we first consider the historical background of the reform, highlighting the legacy of state socialism and the effects of postsocialist neoliberalisation. We then discuss the impact of ‘external’ drivers of deinstitutionalisation in CEE, particularly the European Union and its funding, as well as human rights discourses incorporated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The analysis is supported by looking at the current situation in Hungary and Bulgaria through recent reports by local civil society organisations. In conclusion, we propose some definitional tactics for redirecting existing resources towards genuine community-based services.

Disability stigma in the Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme countries: an overview of the evidence

ROHWERDER, Brigitte
September 2019

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This literature review outlines factors contributing to disability stigma in low- and middle-income countries. Overviews of disability stigma in the six Disability Inclusive Development (DID) programme countries – Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Tanzania – are presented next. The review then looks at the literature on interventions to reduce disability stigma. Interventions aimed at addressing disability stigma in developing countries have been aimed at the intrapersonal and familial level; the interpersonal level; and the structural level.

Gender, sexuality and relationships for young Australian women with intellectual disability

O’SHEA, A
FRAWLEY, P
2019

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Gender has often been overlooked in the lives of people with intellectual disability, resulting in a limited understanding and service response. This is in part due to a lack of knowledge about the way people with intellectual disability negotiate and build a gendered identity. In this article we present research undertaken with six young women with an intellectual disability who worked with the first researcher to co-develop some stories from their lives. We show how, facilitated by an innovative method which focused on meaningful engagement, the women told stories of richly gendered lives and subjectivities. Their stories showed how gender can be a desired and productive subjectivity, and how consideration of gender can help to identify resistance and agency in their lives. Their stories illustrate how gender is necessary in forming a comprehensive understanding of the lives of women with intellectual disability.

HIV prevention, treatment and care programming for people with disabilities (Disability Inclusion Helpdesk Report No. 7)

BELL, Emma
CORBY, Nick
February 2019

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This document provides a rapid review of the evidence on disability inclusive approaches to HIV prevention and response. The purpose of this review is to inform DFID’s policy and programming around integrated approaches to HIV, care and treatment. After briefly outlining the methodology in section 2, section 3 provides an overview of the evidence base on disability and HIV programming, and section 4 provides an overview of key barriers to accessing HIV-related services for people with disabilities. Finally, section 5 provides a series of case studies highlighting lessons learned including key enabling factors. This review finds that overall the evidence base on disability inclusive HIV programming is limited, with the majority of evidence from disability-specific interventions targeted at specific groups of people with different impairments

Community-Based Rehabilitation programming for sex(uality), sexual abuse prevention, and sexual and reproductive health: A scoping review

SCHINDELER, Tamara Lee
ALDERSEY, Heather
2019

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Purpose: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities aims to protect the human rights and dignity of all people with disabilities. In low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), one way this goal is pursued is through Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR), a strategy to support the full and equal participation of people with disabilities. In spite of policy and community-based interventions, people with disabilities continue to experience inequities in many areas of life - one of these being their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights. This scoping review explored the literature to understand how CBR programming has supported sex(uality), sexual abuse prevention, and SRH for people with disabilities.

 

Methods: Arksey and O’Malley’s (2007) framework was used to identify relevant studies in academic and grey literature. This included six databases, the WHO website, and five Regional CBR Network websites. Relevant studies were selected using criteria and data was charted to examine the quantity, variation, and nature of CBR interventions.

 

Results: Fifteen studies were identified. The majority were implemented in Africa; targeted all people with disabilities, regardless of gender, age, or type of disability; and frequently focussed on the topic of HIV/AIDS.  The interventions were most commonly designed to educate people with disabilities on issues of sex(uality), sexual abuse prevention, or SRH.

 

Conclusion: A number of studies discussed CBR programmes that aim to support sex(uality), sexual abuse prevention and SRH for people with disabilities, yet gaps were identified that indicate that certain populations and topics are being overlooked by CBR interventions.

 

Implications: CBR practitioners can focus on filling the gaps identified in this review through future programming. Further action must concentrate on implementing a variety of CBR Matrix strategies to address comprehensive issues related to sex(uality), sexual abuse prevention, or SRH.

 

 

Disability, CBR and Inclusive Development, Vol 30, No 1 (2019)

Need to know guidance: Working with persons with disabilities in forced displacement

UNHCR
2019

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In situations of forced displacement, persons with disabilities have the same rights and basic needs as others and face the same challenges as other individuals. They also face particular protection risks such as heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse, as well as high levels of stigma.  Guidance is given concerning the application of an age, gender and diversity approach, to achieve protection, assistance and solutions. Example approaches are provided concerning: non discrimination; changing attitudes about disability and promoting respect for diversity; Improving identification and data collection; making all facilities physically accessible; ensuring accountability mechanisms are inclusive; preventing and responding to violence and abuse; and building links with organizations of persons with disabilities & other national and local actors.

Precarious Bodies, Precarious Lives: Framing Disability in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Cinema

GARRETT, Victoria
2019

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Alejandro González Iñárritu is a salient example of contemporary Latin American directors who portray sick or disabled bodies as a visual and affective shorthand for different forms of violence. This article explores the relationship between his signature intersecting plots that join seemingly disconnected social spheres in a shared precariousness and his portrayal of illness, injury, and disability to suggest the violence and inequality that underpin these connections. I argue that González Iñárritu’s films frequently represent injured and disabled bodies to expose invisible connections that make social injustice possible as evidence of his using film as a political or ethical intervention that might erode the way contemporary global capitalism reproduces coloniality in everyday life. At the same time, his films illustrate the pitfalls of utilizing disabled bodies to realize this critique, thus shedding light on the ethical dimensions of this tendency to link disability with a critique of violence.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2019, Vol. 6 No. 1

Case studies on leaving no one behind. A companion volume to the Development Co-operation Report 2018

ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)
December 2018

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These case studies complement the 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining forces to leave no one behind. Case study contributors share knowledge and lessons on what it takes to answer the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind through national and sub-national policies, strategies and programmes as well as international development co-operation projects, programmes and partnerships.

 

Chapters include:

 

 

Women with disabilities, HIV and sexual violence: Data tell us they are still left behind

HUMANITY & INCLUSION (HI)
July 2018

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This leaflet intends to underline the existence of intersectional factors of vulnerability amongst Women with Disabilities with respect to HIV/AIDS and sexual violence in Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau. The figures presented here are taken from two studies carried out in Burkina Faso and Guinea Bissau in 2017. In Burkina Faso, 28,667 people were interviewed in total, among whom 978 identified themselves as persons with disabilities (using the Washington Group Short Set of Questions). For the biobehavioral study in Guinea Bissau, 17,110 people were interviewed in total, among whom 1,147 identified themselves as persons with disabilities

Measuring the prevalence of violence against women with disabilities

VAUGHAN, Cathy
et al
February 2018

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This short report summarises discussions during a meeting concerning what is known about violence against women with disabilities and the evidence gaps, with a focus on Asia and the Pacific. It includes a brief overview of the current situation and suggested ways forward for researchers, the kNOwVAWdata initiative and other regional and global initiatives to measure prevalence of violence against women with disabilities, and for relevant regional and national institutions

From the day they are born: a qualitative study exploring violence against children with disabilities in West Africa

NJELESANI, Bridget
et al
January 2018

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The qualitative study presented in this article describes the violence experienced by children with disabilities in Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo from the perspectives of children, community members, and disability stakeholders. The study contributes to the literature on violence against children with disabilities, which in West Africa is largely nonexistent. 

A qualitative study design guided data generation with a total of 419 children, community members, and disability stakeholders. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Stakeholders shared their observations of or experiences of violence against children with disabilities in their community in interviews and focus groups


BMC Public Health 18:153 2018

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5057-x

Audiology and speech-language pathology: Practitioners’ reflections on indigeneity, disability and neo-colonial marketing

PILLAY, Mershen
KATHARD, Harsha
2018

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Indigenous peoples are part of those populations who are underserved by Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. They include minority world populations like Aboriginal Australians/Canadians and majority world peoples in Asia, Africa and the Americas. How do Western-oriented rehabilitation/disability practitioners practice with Others? In this article, we reflect on our own experiences and use ideological critique to reveal the fault lines in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology practices. Along with other examples, we analyse South African data, viz.: canonical articles as illuminators and our works (c1990-). We reveal predominant practices/ideologies that contribute to the production of disability. We focus on three interconnected issues (i) the construction of rehabilitation/disability practitioners as (il)legitimate providers for indigenous peoples; (ii) the engagement of epistemic violence across disability practice, educational and policy domains; and (iii) the authoritative (re)inscription of indigenous persons as disabled by transnational practitioners who, like their corporate counterparts, market practices. Professional marketeering is infused with bigotry, masked as benevolence and resourced/justified by global, neo-liberal policies (e.g., international conventions) and funding. We conclude that disability practices and indigeneity in the post-colonial moment capitalises on established settler-native relationships to continue dominance over Others’ lives. Finally, we present a way forward, namely the relationship of Labouring Affinities which promotes deimperialisation and decolonisation practices to enable professional transformation.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Defying the barriers

KHONDKAR, Laila
HAQUE, Reazul Md
January 2018

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Research summaries, case studies and process documentation from “Inclusive Protection and Empowerment Project for Children with Disabilities (IPEP)” are presented.  The aim of the project was to build resilience and capacity among children with disabilities and to create a violence-free community for them. The project ran in five districts of Bangladesh i.e. Sylhet, Dhaka, Barishal, Rangpur and Gaibandha from 2014- 2017. 

 

The research topics were:

  • Understanding the Vulnerabilities of Children with Disabilities Living in both Government-run and Private Residential Institutions
  • The Vulnerabilities of Children with Disabilities from Low-income Households
  • Social Protection Schemes Relevant to Children with Disabilities and their Families 

 

Exploring structural violence in the context of disability and poverty in Zimbabwe

MUDEREDZI, Jennifer T.
EIDE, Arne H.
BRAATHEN, Stine H.
STRAY-PEDERSEN, Babill
2017

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Background: While it is widely assumed that disability, poverty and health are closely linked, research falls short of fully understanding the link. One approach to analysing the links between disability and poverty is through the concept of structural violence, referring to social structures that contribute to the impoverishment of individuals or communities. These structures can be political, ecological, legal and economic, among others.


Objective: To explore structural violence and how it affects families of children with cerebral palsy among the Tonga ethnic group living in poor rural communities of Binga in Zimbabwe.


Method: This is a longitudinal, qualitative and ethnographic study. Data were collected over a period of eight years from 2005 to 2013. Data collection techniques were in-depth interviews, participant observation and focus group discussions. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 53 informants.


Results: Structural violence was noted through four themes: internal displacement and development, food and politics, water and sanitation, and social services. Poverty was noted in the form of unemployment, lack of education, healthcare, food and shelter. The concept of structural violence inflicted social suffering on the informants. Politics played a major role in activities such as food withdrawal, lack of water, development and allocation of local resources to ‘the people of the city’, leaving the informants struggling with care.

 

Conclusion: Political and economic forces have structured risks and created a situation of extreme human suffering. The capabilities approach brings out the challenges associated with cerebral palsy in the context of development challenges.

Spotlight on Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls - UN WOMEN 2017

UN WOMEN
2017

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Spotlights are made on areas of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and specific targets and indicators are given. The spotlights are on intimate partner violence, harmful practices (including child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM)), unpaid care and domestic work, women in leadership, sexual and reproductive health and the gender data gap. Data gaps are identified and a five year programme is outlined, Making Every Women and Girl Count, which is designed to provide technical and financial support to countries to improve the production and use of gender statistics in order to monitor the implementation of gender equality commitments in the 2030 Agenda.

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