AT A GLANCE: - Disabilities include physical, intellectual, and sensory impairments, as well as mental health conditions.
- The Bank’s work in this area is guided by three principles: taking a multi-sectoral approach, lending analytical expertise and assuming a leadership role.
- The Bank is working in three key areas: Improving the evidence base; mainstreaming disability; and building awareness.
Overview The World Bank estimates that roughly 10 to 12 percent of the world’s population has a disability, and as many as one-fourth of all households have a disabled member. . Disabled people face significant barriers to full participation in society, including the ability to participate in the job market or receive adequate education and job training. Stigma and discrimination can be very severe, not only towards people with disabilities, but in some countries, their families can also suffer similar treatment. To avoid this prospect, families sometimes hide relatives with disabilities. Country definitions, measurement systems, and efforts to reduce poverty and spur economic growth will fall short if the plight of disabled people is ignored. Poor quality education, employment, health services, and safety nets often force family members to stay home to look after their disabled relatives. How disability affects countries - In Uganda, disabled people are nearly 40 percent more likely to be poor, and children living in households with disabled family members are less likely to attend school.
- In Serbia, the poverty rate of disabled people is 70 percent.
- In Honduras, 51 percent of people with disabilities are illiterate compared to 19 percent for the general population.
What does ‘Disability’ mean? The medical model of disability focuses on an individual’s clinical condition. Its social model argues that disability goes beyond medical conditions, and is the result of the interaction of physical, mental, or sensory impairments with culture, social institutions, and physical environments. Disability also covers people with physical, intellectual, and sensory disabilities, as well as people with mental health conditions. They include people born with disabilities as well as those who acquire them through war, traffic accidents, and dangerous living and working conditions. People with physical or mental limitations are often disabled not because of a diagnosable condition but because they are denied access to education, labor markets, and public services. This exclusion leads to poverty and, in a vicious circle, poverty leads to more disability by increasing people’s vulnerability to malnutrition, disease, and unsafe living and working conditions. How the World Bank Responds The Bank’s mission of reducing poverty can not be achieved without meeting the needs of disabled people. The Bank’s work in this area is guided by two main factors: - Multi-sectoral approach —integrating disabled people into society involves a strategy that often cuts across sectors, since a person’s disability can affect all aspects of their lives.
- Analytical expertise —the area of disability and development is relatively new and not widely appreciated. Analyzing the impact of disability on development, and building the economic case for including disability in development programs and policies, are key strengths of the Bank.
How The Bank Mainstreams Disability Into Its Development Work? From 2002-2007, approximately 7% of all World Bank projects and new lending commitments contained a disability component. In July 2004, 10% of projects in Europe & Central Asia had a Disability Component. About 6% of analytical work included some focus on disability. To integrate disability into its operational design and implementation, the Bank is working in three key areas, in addition to deepening its research work: - Building Internal and External Capacity —this is being pursued via the funding of a variety of training, research, and operational activities through several sources, including the Norwegian Trust Fund for Disability and Development, the Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program, and the Trust Fund for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development.
- Regional Working Groups —with initial funding from the World Bank President’s contingency fund, each region has established ongoing cross-sectoral working groups which have developed action plans for integrating disability into their current and future operations.
- International Partnerships —the Bank has played a key role in the creation of the Global Partnership for Disability and Development, a multi-donor trust fund intended to bring all the major development players together; governments, civil society, universities, employers, and foundations, to develop capacity for and share knowledge on inclusion. We continue to partner with World Health Organization and the United Nation’s Washington City Group.
- ### - For more information on the World Bank’s work in the area of disability, visit:
www.worldbank.org/disability Updated April 2008 Contact:
Phil Hay, (202) 473-1796
phay@worldbank.org |
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