-- Related Links -- Disability website

At a Glance

• Approximately 10-12 percent of the world’s population has a disability, with the majority living in developing countries.
  
  
• Three-quarters of all disabilities occur during adulthood
  
  
• People with disabilities are often excluded from mainstream economic and social life
  
  
• Disability increases poverty, and poverty in turn worsens disability.

 Disability is not a rare occurrence, but a common part of life. People with disabilities include those who are born with or acquire physical, cognitive, or sensory impairments. Disability can result from malnutrition, lack of quality health care (including preventative medicine), chronic conditions, infectious diseases (including HIV/AIDS), aging, injuries, disasters, conflicts and war, urbanization, pollution, environmental degradation, unsafe working conditions, and poverty.

Limited access to economic, educational, and social opportunities disproportionately affects people with disabilities. The diminished ability of individuals with disabilities to participate in social and economic life is not simply a result of a medical or functional limitation, but reflects a lack of or inadequate access to social services, education, and labor market opportunities. Such limited access—often resulting in exclusion—has an economic effect not only on people with disabilities, but also on their families and caregivers, who often forego economically productive activities to stay at home and provide care. These factors are thought to translate into a loss of human capital and foregone GDP of somewhere between 5-7 percent worldwide.²

Global awareness of the importance of addressing disability within development is increasing. Disability is included in the Accra Agenda for Action (2008).³ The recent United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) promotes cross-sectoral work to achieve full integration of persons with disabilities in societies. The CRPD makes specific reference to the importance of development in addressing the rights of persons with disabilities. To date, 142 countries have signed the CRPD and 85 of these countries have ratified it.⁴ In recent years, an increasing number of bilateral donors have also developed disability policies to guide their international aid.⁵

How Does the World Bank Integrate Disability into Development?

Knowledge Creation, Data Collection, and Documentation of Good Practice―Through its analytical work, data, and capturing ‘best-practice’ policies in disability to include people with disabilities in activities such as health, education, labor markets, social safety nets, infrastructure, and transportation.

Supporting “Universal Design”―The Bank supports the use of Universal Design in its projects. Small, inexpensive steps during the early planning and implementation phase of projects can greatly improve access, usability, and safety of physical infrastructure for all, including people with temporary disabilities from injury, pregnant women, elderly people, and young children, along with individuals who have disabilities.

·         A number of Bank projects include disability-related activities in sectors such as education, social protection, transport, communication, and others, and cover a range of countries including Jordan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malawi, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, and others.  

·         The Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (TFESSD) has supported disability work in a growing number of countries. This work includes activities in Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Columbia, Egypt, India, Moldova, Morocco, Sierra Leone, and several others. The areas of involvement include HIV/AIDS and disability, accessible transport and urban infrastructure, and disability determination.

·         The Multi Donor Trust Fund on Global Partnership for Disability and Development and the Bank Disability and Development Team are jointly implementing several activities, including 1) a background document comparing development agencies’ support of disability, 2) an international report on natural disasters and disability, 3) regional trainings hosted in Mozambique on both Strategic Development Papers (such as PRSPs) and also Universal Design and Tourism, and 4) Communities of Practice on Women and Disability, as well as Education and Disability.

Crisis, Disability, and Policy Responses

The financial crisis and recession are affecting people with disabilities worldwide in many aspects of their lives, notably through adverse impacts on labor markets, incomes, and governments’ abilities to provide services. 

Economic crisis may curb public spending on health and education services, which would disproportionately affect disabled people. Access to health care is particularly important for people living with disabilities. Without medical help, many would not be able to continue working. Poor medical care is often a key contributor to secondary disabilities, which further limit the chances of disabled people to participate in social and economic life. Efforts should therefore be made to preserve spending on basic health services. In terms of education, children with disabilities are less likely to attend school because of social stigma, lack of physical access, and lack of financial means. Here too, any fall in public spending is likely to affect children with disabilities significantly.

Government-provided social services and financial support for people with disabilities contribute significantly to their ability to manage economic downturns. In many developed countries, social assistance programs (or social transfers) contribute substantially to the incomes of disabled people. Poor safety nets, along with unemployment, can push many people, especially those with disabilities, deeper into poverty. In some cases, this may lead to malnutrition, which in turn is strongly associated with disability among children. Therefore, it is crucially important to ensure that people with disabilities are included in all safety net programs that help people cope with the crisis. This applies to cash transfers (conditional or non-conditional), feeding programs, public works, and others.

Accessibility: The crisis presents opportunities as well. The lack of physical access to the workplace, schools, clinics, roads, transportation, and other infrastructure and services poses huge barriers for people with disabilities. Many governments are planning major investments in public infrastructure to bolster economic activity and speed recovery. By ensuring that Universal Design (UD) is applied in these programs, a significant improvement in accessibility, not only for people with disabilities but also other populations, can be achieved. Including the principals of UD from the design stage is a lot less costly than retrofitting for accessibility.

Media Contact:

Phil Hay, (202) 473-1796, phay@worldbank.org 

Updated September 2009