Disability and poverty: the need for a more nuanced understanding of implications for development policy and practice

The international development community is beginning to recognise that people with disabilities constitute among the poorest and most vulnerable of all groups and thus must be a core issue in development policies and programmes. Yet, the relationship between disability and poverty remains ill-defined and under-researched, with few studies providing robust and verifiable data that examines the intricacies of this relationship. A second, linked issue is the need for – and current lack of – criteria to assess whether and how disability-specific and disability ‘mainstreamed’ or ‘inclusive’ programmes work in combating the exclusion, marginalisation and poverty of people with disabilities. This article reviews existing knowledge and theory regarding the disability/poverty nexus. Using both established theoretical constructs and field based data, it attempts to identify what knowledge gaps exist and need to be addressed with future research. The article also discusses some of the inherent challenges in developing appropriate and effective indicators by which disability issues in poverty alleviation initiatives might be evaluated. These include the need to understand the implications of the poverty/disability nexus not just at the individual, but also at the household and community level. Moreover, there is a need to understand the links between disability and poverty not simply at one point in time, but as an evolving concern over the course of an individual’s lifetime – and as something that may in fact, have implication over several generations. Finally, what becomes of impoverished people with disabilities when other members of their communities begin to benefit from successful international development efforts? Do their lives improve as part of