Abstract
The relationship between disability and poverty has been acknowledged with reasonable conviction in recent years. Various commentators have expressed how disability and poverty are bound together, one feeding into the other, a relationship typically presented as a mutually reinforcing cycle (World Health Organization and World Bank 2011). Within this discourse, sometimes supported by schematic representations, it is said that poverty exacerbates and/or intensifies impairment or vulnerability to it, while the barriers encountered by disabled people result in a greater chance of falling into or experiencing more intense poverty. As a result, disabled people are said to be among the poorest of the poor. The argument that impoverishment is what typifies many of these disabled lives, supports the efforts of those who insist that disability is not only relevant to, but cuts across international development policy, research and practice. This has come to be known as disability mainstreaming (see Chap. 1 in this volume, Grech 2016). The emphasis on the disability/poverty relationship has remained a strong linchpin in negotiations with the United Nations to get disability into the coveted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and now forms a key discursive component in the new rhetoric on ‘disability-inclusive development’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
One of the very few offerings critically debating and reframing this relation is that by Grech (2015).
References
Akter, S., & Mallick, D. (2013). The poverty–vulnerability–resilience nexus: Evidence from Bangladesh. Ecological Economics, 96, 114–124.
Alkire, S., & Foster, J. (2011). Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement. Oxford: Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative.
CBM. (n.d.). The twin-track approach. Retrieved from http://www.cbm.org/The-Twin-Track-approach-250816.php. Accessed 6 Nov 2015.
Charlton, J. I. (1998). Nothing about us without us: Disability oppression and empowerment. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Chen, S., & Ravallion, M. (2007). Absolute poverty measures for the developing world, 1981–2004. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Coleridge, P. (1993). Disability, liberation and development. Oxford: Oxfam.
Cooke, B., & Kothari, U. (Eds.). (2000). Participation: The new tyranny? London: Zed Books.
Department for International Development (DFID). (2000). Disability, poverty and development. London: DFID.
Eide, A. H., & Ingstad, B. (Eds.). (2011). Disability and poverty: A global challenge. Bristol: Policy Press.
Eide, A. H., & Loeb, M. (2016). Counting disabled people: Historical perspectives and the challenges of disability statistics. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the Global South: The critical handbook. New York: Springer.
Elwan, A. (1999). Poverty and disability: A survey of the literature. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Filmer, D. (2008). Disability, poverty, and schooling in developing countries: Results from 14 household surveys. World Bank Economic Review, 22(1), 141–163.
Gilroy, J., & Donelly, M. (2016). Australian indigenous people with disability: Ethics and standpoint theory. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the Global South: The critical handbook. New York: Springer.
Grech, S. (2009). Disability, poverty and development: Critical reflections on the majority world debate. Disability & Society, 24(6), 771–784.
Grech, S. (2011). Recolonising debates or perpetuated coloniality? Decentring the spaces of disability, development and community in the global South. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 15(1), 87–100.
Grech, S. (2012). Disability and the majority world: A neocolonial approach. In D. Goodley, B. Hughes, & L. Davis (Eds.), Disability and social theory: New developments and directions (pp. 52–69). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grech, S. (2014). Disability, poverty and education: Perceived barriers and (dis)connections in rural Guatemala. Disability and the Global South, 1(1), 128–152.
Grech, S. (2015). Disability and poverty in the global South. Renegotiating development in Guatemala. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Grech, S. (2016). Disability and development: Critical connections, gaps and contradictions. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the global South: The critical handbook. New York: Springer.
Grech, S., & Goodley, D. (2012). Doing disability research in the majority world: An alternative framework and the quest for decolonising methods. Journal of Human Development, Disability, and Social Change, 19(2), 43–55.
Groce, N., Kembhavi, G., Wirz, S., Lang, R., Trani, J. F., & Kett, M. (2011). Poverty and disability: A critical review of the literature in low and middle-income countries. London: University College London.
Helander, E. (1992). Prejudice and dignity. New York, NY: Karpf.
Ingstad, B. (1997). Community-based rehabilitation in Botswana. Lewiston, NY: Mellen.
Ingstad, B., & Whyte, S. R. (1995). Introduction. In B. Ingstad & S. Whyte (Eds.), Disability and culture (pp. 137–139). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Ingstad, B., & Whyte, S. R. (Eds.). (2007). Disability in local and global worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Kuipers, P., & Sabuni, L. P. (2016). Community-based rehabilitation and disability-inclusive development: On a winding path to an uncertain destination. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the global South: The critical handbook. New York: Springer.
Lister, R. (2004). Poverty. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Loeb, M., Eide, A. H., Jelsma, J., Ka Toni, M., & Maart, S. (2008). Poverty and disability in Eastern and Western Cape Provinces, South Africa. Disability & Society, 23(4), 311–321.
Lwanga-Ntale, C. (2003). Chronic poverty and disability in Uganda. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University ILR School.
Miles, M. (2007). International strategies for disability-related work in developing countries: Historical, modern and critical reflections. Farsta, Sweden: Independent Living Institute. Retrieved from http://www.independentliving.org/docs7/miles200701.html. Accessed 24 Nov 2013.
Mitra, S., Posarac, A., & Vick, B. (2011). Disability and poverty in developing countries: A snapshot from the world health survey. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Mitra, S., Posarac, A., & Vick, B. (2013). Disability and poverty in developing countries: A multidimensional study. World Development, 41, 1–18.
Mohanty, C. T. (2003). Feminism without borders: Decolonizing theory, practicing solidarity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mont, D. (2007). Measuring disability prevalence. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Mont, D., & Nguyen, C. (2013). Spatial variation in the disability-poverty correlation: Evidence from Vietnam. London: University College London.
Oliver, M. (1990). The politics of disablement. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Palmer, M. (2012). Disability and poverty: A conceptual review. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 21(4), 210–218.
Reeve, D. (2002). Negotiating psycho-emotional dimensions of disability and their influence on identity constructions. Disability & Society, 17(5), 493–508.
Runswick-Cole, K., & Goodley, D. (2013). Resilience: A disability studies and community psychology approach. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 67–78.
Santos, B. (2014). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. London: Routledge.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Soldatic, K., & Grech, S. (2014). Transnationalising disability studies: Rights, justice and impairment. Disability Studies Quarterly, 34(2). Retrieved from http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/4249. Accessed 7 Dec 2015.
Thomas, C. (1999). Female forms: Experiencing and understanding disability. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Thomas, C. (2007). Sociologies of disability and illness contested ideas in disability studies and medical sociology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Trani, J. F., & Loeb, M. (2012). Poverty and disability: A vicious circle? Evidence from Afghanistan and Zambia. Journal of International Development, 24(1), 19–52.
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2002). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous people. London: Zed Books.
World Health Organization and World Bank. (2011). World report on disability. Geneva: WHO.
Yeo, R. (2005). Disability, poverty and the new development agenda. London: Disability Knowledge and Research Programme, DFID.
Yeo, R., & ADD. (2001). Chronic poverty and disability. Somerset: Action on Disability and Development. Retrieved from http://www.addc.org.au/documents/resources/add-chronic-poverty-and-disability_990.pdf. Accessed 7 Dec 2015.
Yeo, R., & Moore, K. (2003). Including disabled people in poverty reduction work: Nothing about us, without us. World Development, 31(3), 571–590.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grech, S. (2016). Disability and Poverty: Complex Interactions and Critical Reframings. In: Grech, S., Soldatic, K. (eds) Disability in the Global South. International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42486-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42488-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)