Disability is not Inability

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21 According to the World Bank; Manual on Disabilities and Inclusive Development for the Media and Social Communications Professionals; Poverty and disabilities should be dealt with together: The social approach based on the link between poverty and disabilities is an alternative way of replacing another stance that is quite widely used by governments all over the world.

This consists of initially seeking solutions for poverty and then turning to disabilities. This approach has not been attaining the expected results, for several reasons listed in the manual.

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- There is a vicious cause and effect cycle between being a poor person and a person with disabilities.

- Disabilities and poverty are controversial terms that are construed in different ways. From any standpoint, disabilities are a substantial component of poverty.

- According to the United Nations, 82% of the people with disabilities all over the world live below the poverty line in the developing countries.

- The United Nations estimates that there are some 600 million people with disabilities in the world, 400 million of them living in the developing countries.

- In some countries with medium and high-income levels, disability levels vary between 15% and 20% of the total population. In countries with lower average incomes, these levels tend to rise. As there are differences in how the developed and developing countries handle their statistics on disabilities, the 10% standard level proposed by the World Health Organization during the 1980s is still frequently adopted. This also includes the sector of the population that develops disabilities due to malnutrition, consisting of around one quarter of all people with disabilities identified in the statistics.

- Children, mainly girls are more severely affected by the poverty / disabilities ratio.

- People with disabilities are widely excluded from the social, economic and political lives of their communities. This exclusion is the main cause of high poverty rates among people with disabilities in poorer countries.

- The World Bank estimates that two-thirds of the population with disabilities in the world lives in poverty, suffering from shortages of water, food, nutrients, education, medical care, job opportunities and access to information.

- According to the European Disability Forum, during the next thirty years, the number of people with disabilities in developing countries will raise by 120%, compared to 40% in the developed countries.

- People living in poverty tend to develop disabilities because they are constantly exposed to high-risk factors such as malnutrition, poor housing, lack of safety and violence within their communities, in addition to poor or absent services offering early intervention, rehabilitation and education.

- People with disabilities are often poorer because they encounter far greater difficulties in finding work, obtaining medical assistance that is properly adapted to their needs, and participating in the decision-taking process within their communities.

- People born with disabilities living in poverty face a higher risk of remaining poor and having children who develop diseases that may well result in disabilities.

23. A media and disability discussion led by Geetha Rao, Times of India shares the concern of disability in Africa. It says: Many of us in the development sector are concerned about the short shrift that mass media gives to development. A study on the content of newspapers on development over a year, conducted by Shangon Dasgupta of the Centre for Development Learning, in late 2000 merely confirms this point. “If development news can be defined as ‘information that has social consequence,” then we clearly have a long way to go. The study showed that in the Times of India 4 per cent of a total of 24 pages was devoted to development. This was more or less the same across a range of papers like the Hindustan Times, and Deccan Herald.

The study also attempted to analyse news items related to Disabilities. The findings were similar. No news item “pertaining to Disabilities appeared on the front page. “A majority of news items about persons with disabilities appeared from Page 4 to page 12. Most of these were restricted to event based coverage. “No serious discussions on issues pertaining to disabilities appeared.”

24 Economic Survey Report, 2007 Government of Kenya.

25 Though the Law enacted in 2004, yet vary few including in government and media know, support or follow it. The media has even gone to court to block sections that mandate news bulletins to be in interpreted in sign language until they are able to provide the service. Yet there is no time frame given. The government despite providing free social services like education and health, blocked sections of the ACT that mandate enforcement of an adjustment order against public institutions like schools and hospitals.



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