The World Health Organisation estimates that 15 percent of the world’s population has a disability, 80 percent of whom live in developing countries[1]. Yet, persons with disabilities are still invisible and often left behind. They are overrepresented among the poor. IFAD is the only specialized global development organization exclusively dedicated to transforming agriculture, rural economies and food systems to make them more inclusive, productive, resilient and sustainable. In accordance with its Targeting Policy[2], IFAD specializes in working in the most fragile and remote areas and with the most marginalized and vulnerable people. To address the issues of inclusive rural transformation, IFAD must also design projects and programmes that purposely include those poor and vulnerable populations with disabilities.
[1] World Health Organisation (2011). World Report on Disability.
[2] IFAD (2008). IFAD targeting policy: Reaching the rural poor
Poverty
Poverty is both a cause and consequence of disability (see Figure 1). Poverty and disability reinforce each other, contributing to increased vulnerability and exclusion. The majority of persons with disabilities find that their situation affects their chances of going to school, working for a living, enjoying family life, and participating as equals in social and community life.
Hunger and malnutrition, dangerous working and living conditions, limited access to vaccination programmes, and to health and maternity care, poor hygiene, bad sanitation, inadequate information about the causes of impairments, war and conflict, and natural disasters all cause disability. Many of these causes are preventable.
In turn, disability exacerbates poverty, by increasing isolation and economic strain, not just for the individual but often for the affected family as well. Caring for persons with disabilities often adds an extra burden on women’s workload, thus increasing their time poverty. In many countries, persons with disabilities are stigmatised. Cultural or religious beliefs can underpin stigma, for example, the belief that disability is the result of witchcraft or the sins of previous generations. When persons with disabilities experience stigma, there are broad ramifications. Stigma leads to persons with disabilities being treated differently and often results in being excluded from educational and training opportunities, employment, health and other public services, and full participation in all aspects of society, including decision-making.
When persons with disabilities are denied education, they are then unable to find employment, driving them more deeply into poverty. Disability also often means losing a job or not being able to attend school, or paying high medical and transportation costs. Breaking out of the vicious cycle of poverty and disability becomes more and more difficult.
Food and nutrition insecurity
Persons with disabilities are overrepresented in low- and middle-income countries and in rural areas, where there is a higher reliance on on-farm activities[1]; having a person with disability in the household increases the likelihood of food and nutrition insecurity[2]. Persons with disabilities experience barriers to accessing food, good nutrition and being agents of food production. In addition, food may be distributed unequally among household member, with the most vulnerable, including household members with disabilities, losing out. More than 720 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat and about 2.3 billion people experience moderate or severe levels of food insecurity[3]. Among these populations, persons with disabilities experience a greater risk of:
- malnutrition (meaning they are more at risk of undernutrition and overnutrition and their associated health conditions)
- food insecurity (meaning that they lack secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for growth and development and to lead an active and healthy life)
Persons with disabilities and their households are among the populations with the least access to food and nutrition, and among those experiencing higher rates of poverty. On account of higher rates of unemployment and lower earnings in employment, they have less available income to spend on food. Where persons with disabilities do benefit from social protection measures, these are often insufficient, as they commonly do not cover disability-related extra costs, hence pushing expenditure on food and nutrition further down the list of spending priorities[4].
[1] OHCHR (2020). Policy Guidelines for Inclusive Sustainable Development Goals: Food and Nutrition.
[2] Having a person with disability in the household might reduce the labour available for food production and increase the work burden of people in the family, especially of women.
[3] FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2020. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. Rome, FAO.
[4] OHCHR (2020). Policy Guidelines for Inclusive Sustainable Development Goals: Food and Nutrition.
Climate Change
Approximately 18 million persons with disabilities will be displaced by climatic events by 2050. Persons with disabilities are typically amongst the most ‘resource poor’ within a community as a result of a lack of income, poor education, social exclusion and exclusion from decision-making authorities or structures. They hence have little access to, or control over, the resources that would facilitate adaptation to climate change. The prevalence of disability is projected to be affected by climate change through increases in malnutrition and increased diseases and injury due to extreme weather events. Persons with disabilities will be particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of increasing urbanisation, such as lack of improved water, sanitation and durable housing, as a result of climate change related migration. Persons with disabilities are among the most vulnerable in an emergency, sustaining disproportionately higher rates of morbidity and mortality, and at the same time being among those least able to access emergency support.[1]
[1] CARE (2015). Disability Framework.
Disability and human rights
Persons with disabilities have the same rights as anyone else to participate in society: to have a family, attend school, take part in the workplace, politics and social and cultural events. Several international normative frameworks[1] exist on non-discrimination. However, in practice, persons with disabilities are often not able to practice their rights, which means they may not attend school or find jobs, may be discriminated and excluded from community activities, and are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, especially women and girls. The result of the cycle of poverty and disability is that persons with disabilities are usually amongst the poorest of the poor.
[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), preamble (h); SDG targets 10.3 and 16.b.
Table 1: Normative frameworks on non-discrimination of persons with disabilities
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) promotes the right to life, liberty and security of all persons in society, including the fostering of all such rights in the event of, among other circumstances, disability. Although it conceptualized disability as a condition, as opposed to a status or a result of a person’s interaction with the way in which society is organized, the UDHR is widely recognized for establishing the core principle of equality for all.
Disability is referenced in various parts of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically in parts related to education, growth and employment, inequality, accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs, for instance:
- In Goal 8: to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, the international community aims to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.
Closely linked is Goal 10, which strives to reduce inequality within and among countries by empowering and promoting the social, economic and political inclusion of all, including persons with disabilities.
Disability inclusion advantage
While the social and human rights case is compelling enough on its own, disability inclusion can also have substantial economic benefits to individuals, families and societies. If persons with disabilities are able to participate in their communities without discrimination, this opens up new opportunities to contribute economically. The most obvious pathway through which this occurs is access to livelihoods[1]. Persons with disabilities’ lower rates of economic and labour market participation impose a higher welfare burden on governments, highlighting the costs of exclusion, which are estimated to range from three to seven percent of the gross domestic product[2].
If provided with adequate support, resources and technologies, persons with disabilities have the capacity to become active members of society and the economy. Investing in small farms and farmers with disabilities is an important way to increase food production and to contribute to food security and nutrition in their households. The short-term costs of integrating persons with disabilities will be surpassed by the long-term savings to families and societies[3]. Including persons with disabilities in development is not only their right, but is also the most efficient way to combat poverty and leave no one behind.
[1] Bond (2021). Leaving no one behind: The value for money of disability-inclusive development.
[2] International Labour Organisation (2009). The price of exclusion: The economic consequences of excluding persons with disabilities from the world of work.
[3] See DFID (2000). Disability, poverty and development.
