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Are persons with disabilities included in the effort to leave no-one behind? Mapping disability data in development in Asia and the Pacific

CBM GLOBAL’S INCLUSION ADVISORY GROUP
February 2022

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In the Asia Pacific region, UNFPA and partners work together to implement the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities. The Incheon Strategy is the region’s first set of disability-specific development goals to track progress towards the fulfilment of rights of persons with disabilities.

In the region, it is estimated that there are over 650 million persons with disabilities. However, without accurate, timely and disaggregated data, countries are unable to develop effective policies and programmes, monitor the wellbeing of persons with disabilities and evaluate the equity and impact of development efforts. This endangers country commitments to ‘leave no one behind’ and undermines their obligations to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This groundbreaking report demonstrates the importance of ensuring data is inclusive and provides recommendations for immediate action in order to improve the collection, analysis and reporting of disability data

Barriers and facilitators to providing assistive technologies to children with disabilities in Afghanistan

WHITAKKER, Golnaz
WOOD, Gavin
February 2022

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Due to the impacts of the ongoing conflict, Afghanistan’s child population is at high risk of being born with or acquiring a primary or secondary disability. According to a recent estimate, up to 17 per cent of Afghanistan’s children live with some form of disability. Assistive technologies (AT) – the systems, services and products that enhance the functioning of people with impairments – are likely to be required by a large proportion of children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which includes a commitment to provide AT equitably to all who need it. However, little action has been taken to meet this commitment, and there continues to be a vast gap between the need for AT and its provision. This work presents the landscape of AT provision, the barriers and facilitators to provision, and provides recommendations to begin to close the gap. 

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to build on the evidence in the literature, and to understand the factors affecting AT provision in Afghanistan

Life Becomes Harder: Intersectional Feminist Lens to Dis/abled Experience of Women in Afghanistan during Covid 19 Pandemic and Post Covid Development Context

SHAJAHAN, Sharin
2021

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More than 40 years of war, ethnic conflict, violence and poverty have made Afghanistan a country where at least one in five live with a serious physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychosocial disability. Women with disabilities in Afghanistan are considered to be ‘doubly stigmatized’ due to gender inequality and disability stigmatization, and are often hidden from the social and political aspects of life. Although in the post-Taliban era, development interventions backed by international aid have been designed to include women with disabilities, their intersectionalities cutting across class, ethnicity, region, different types of impairments and other positionalities have not been explored to address different needs, barriers and inequalities across various regions. In this context, the Covid 19 crisis has made the lives of Afghan women with disabilities harder due to gender discrimination, stigma and shame, unemployment, lack of mobility, lack of awareness, and insufficient institutional support and infrastructure coupled with widespread feelings of insecurity resulting from conflict and terrorist attacks. Based on both primary and secondary data, this paper will shed a feminist intersectional insight into the plight of women with dis/abled experience during the Covid 19 pandemic in the complex political and social terrain of Afghanistan. The paper will also explore visions for designing interventions aimed at integrating women with disabilities in post Covid development plans.

Model disability survey of Afghanistan 2019

AKSEER SHINWARI, Nadia
AKSEER, Tabasum
KAMALA, Madhis
May 2020

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Led by The Asia Foundation (the Foundation) in Kabul, Afghanistan, the WHO’s and World Banks’ Model Disability Survey (MDS) was implemented in Afghanistan in 2019 to provide rigorous and current data for policy and action. Using an adapted MDS, the MDSA 2019 was designed and implemented to generate representative data at nationally and regionally representative levels.

 

A complex survey using multistage sampling was administered respectively to adult (18+ years) and child (2–17 years) populations; a total of 14,290 households were surveyed, representing 111,641 Afghans across the country. Separate survey tools were implemented for adults (157 questions) and children (53 questions). Three core tools were developed covering: 1) household characteristics; 2) adult disabilities (related to functioning, health conditions, personal assistance, assistive products and facilitators, health care utilization, well-being and empowerment); 3) child disabilities (related to functioning and health conditions)

“Disability Is Not Weakness” Discrimination and barriers facing women and girls with disabilities in Afghanistan

GOSSMAN, Patricia
April 2020

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Everyday barriers that Afghan women and girls with disabilities face are described.  Decades of conflict have decimated government institutions and development efforts have failed to reach many communities most in need. Obtaining access to health care, education, and employment, along with other basic rights, is particularly difficult for Afghan women and girls with disabilities, who face both gender discrimination and stigma and barriers associated with their disability.

 

This report is based primarily on research by Human Rights Watch researchers from April 2018 through January 2020 in Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, and Herat, Afghanistan. 23 interviews with women with disabilities and 3 interviews with family members of women and girls with disabilities were conducted. 14 healthcare and education professionals were interviewed, including representatives from the United Nations and international and local nongovernmental organizations providing services to persons with disabilities in Afghanistan

Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development (DCID), 2019, Vol. 30 No, 2

2019

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Research articles are:

  • Stereotypes about Adults with Learning Disabilities: Are Professionals a Cut Above the Rest?
  • Perceptions of Primary Caregivers about Causes and Risk Factors of Cerebral Palsy in Ashanti Region, Ghana
  • Changes in Social Participation of Persons Affected by Leprosy, Before and After Multidrug Therapy, in an Endemic State in Eastern India
  • Users’ Satisfaction with Assistive Devices in Afghanistan
  • Perceived Benefits and Barriers to Exercise among Physically Active and Non-Active Elderly People

Brief reports are:

  • The GRID Network: A Community of Practice for Disability Inclusive Development
  • A Preliminary Report of the Audiological Profile of Hearing Impaired Pupils in Inclusive Schools in Lagos State, Nigeria

An experiential report is given:

  • MAANASI - A Sustained, Innovative, Integrated Mental Healthcare Model in South India

 

Users’ satisfaction with assistive devices in Afghanistan

MOHAPATRA, Bikram Keshari
2019

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Purpose: The objective of this study was to assess users’ satisfaction and effectiveness of assistive devices in four regions of Afghanistan, namely Mazar-e-Sharif, Ghazni, Jalalabad and Taloqan.

 

Method: A random sample of 785 users, who were provided with 874 mobility and assistive devices in four regional prosthetic and orthotic workshops of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA), participated in the study.

 

Results: The study revealed that the majority of the participants rated the assistive devices as very useful. While 45% of respondents even described them as excellent, 49% expressed a good level of satisfaction with the services they received at treatment centres. Similarly, the majority of respondents (67%) mentioned a maximum level of improvement, while 15% claimed to have witnessed some improvement in their physical condition. Fitting, comfort, and ease of use, along with durability, weight and appearance were rated as the most important factors of assistive devices. On the other hand, slow service and limited access to maintenance and repair facilities were identified as reasons for dissatisfaction.

 

Conclusion: The study provided continuous and valuable information to rehabilitation professionals regarding device effectiveness and satisfaction. The findings also recommended a stronger focus on comfort and usefulness of mobility and assistive devices. Lastly, the study suggested that lack of local device-repair service needs to be addressed by rehabilitation professionals. 

2030 Agenda for sustainable development: Selected SDG indicators disaggregated by disability status

WASHINGTON GROUP ON DISABILITY STATISTICS
October 2018

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In light of the importance of disability data collection and the disaggregation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) outcome indicators by disability status, the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) undertook an exercise to review, among WG member countries, the extent to which data on SDG indicators currently available can be disaggregated by disability status. Requests for disaggregated SDG data for 13 selected indicators were sent to 146 member countries. 48 countries responded and 39 provided data. Response data is tabulated and discussed.

Equal basis 2014 : access and rights in 33 countries

BURKE, Megan
PERSI VICENTIC, Loren
December 2014

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This report presents research about efforts to meet the needs and uphold the rights of persons with disabilities in four thematic areas: health care, rehabilitation, work and employment, and accessibility and enabling environments. Research findings are drawn from the experiences of landmine and cluster munition survivors and other persons with similar needs in 33 countries experiencing armed conflict or emerging from armed conflict or political or economic transition. Findings are placed within the context of relevant articles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the World Report on Disability

Mapping report of physical rehabilitation services in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Odisha (India) and Sri Lanka

AXELSSON, Charlotte
2014

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This report presents a mapping (situational analysis) of the physical rehabilitation sector in the three countries and the Odisha state in India completed as part of Handicap International’s three year regional program in South Asia “Towards Disability Inclusive Development through a Strengthened Rehabilitation Sector in South Asia”. The aim of this mapping is improve the availability of information on the physical rehabilitation sector and to have an overview of the needs and unmet needs for physical rehabilitation

Inclusive disaster risk management : a framework and toolkit

FERRETTI, Silva
KHAMIS, Marion
2014

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This framework and toolkit have been designed to support practitioners in challenging and deepening inclusiveness in their work. They have been designed in simple language, so the resource should be easy to adapt for the use of field staff as a complement to existing manuals and operational resources on DRM. The practical framework contains the following sections:introduction, framework for inclusive DRM, levels of achievements, and assessing inclusiveness, using the framework for,  annexes and Q&A. Throughout the resource, related resources and checklists are provided and the toolbox features cartoons, tools catalogue, learning pills, case studies, poster and 4D lenses. These resources are useful for practitioners who want to develop an understanding of inclusive DRM framework and to learn how to practically assess inclusiveness in in ongoing DRM situations

Disability inclusive community based disaster risk management : a toolkit for practice in South Asia

O’MEARA, Claire
2012

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This toolkit, developed as part of Handicap International’s project ‘Make community-based disaster risk management inclusive in South Asia,’ addresses issues faced by persons with disability and attempts to ensure that services and systems are adapted to meet the diverse needs of the community in reducing risk. It has been designed for use by disaster risk management practitioners and policy makers who wish to understand more about how to make community based disaster risk management (CBDRM) inclusive of persons with disabilities.

 

The first part establishes the rationale for taking an inclusive approach, firmly establishing the links between disability and disasters and the need for action on inclusion. Part Two provides practical guidance on how to make core CBDRM activities inclusive. Separated into eight individual booklets, it takes each activity in turn and highlights what needs to be taken into account both in planning and in implementation. The Toolbox contains a number of tools to complement the advice given in Part Two and support good practices in implementation. These tools can be taken and used as provided or adapted for use as necessary

 

SD/PG 01

 

Mainstreaming disability in the new development paradigm : evaluation of Norwegian support to promote the rights of persons with disabilities

INGDAL, Nora
NILSSON, Annika
2012

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"This report is the result of an external and independent evaluation of the Norwe¬gian Support to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the last 11 years. The intention of the evaluation is to analyse the results of targeted and mainstreamed initiatives towards achieving the rights of persons with disabilities...The methodology included field visits in the four case countries: Malawi, Nepal, the Palestinian territory and Uganda to obtain a deeper understanding of how the rights of persons with disabilities have been promoted, and estimate the possible contributions of the Norwegian support. Afghanistan was included as a desk study"
Note: The report is available electronically and in printed version. A braille copy can be downloaded from the web. The four country reports, written in English, are available electronically. The summaries of the country studies are made available electronically, with translations to the relevant local languages Nepali, Arabic and Chewa. In addition an easy-read version in English and Norwegian of the main report is available electronically

Increasing inclusion of persons with disabilities : reflections from disability research using the ICF in Afghanistan and Cambodia

TRANI, Jean-François
VANLEIT, Betsy
February 2010

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This paper discusses the participation of children in school based on disability surveys completed in Afghanistan and Cambodia. Using the model of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the results of the surveys are analysed and general findings are highlighted. The paper concludes that the ICF can be used as a framework for disability research and acknowledges that cultural differences may impact results
Working Paper Series No 11

Voices from the ground : landmine and explosive remnants of war survivors speak out on victim assistance

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
September 2009

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This report surveys landmine survivors’ opinions on assistance. The survey includes questionnaires and data from 1,645 survivors in 25 affected countries. The report finds that survivors are rarely included in decisions and activities destined to benefit them and subsequently more than two-thirds think that their needs are not taken into account when their governments makes plans to assist them. This document is useful for people interested in landmine survivor's opinions about governments supporting and reintegrating landmine survivors into society

Disability prevalence : challenges for measurement

BAKHSHI, Parul
TRANI, Jean-Francois
April 2007

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This article examines the methodology of measuring the prevalence rate of disability through a population based survey using the Capabilities Framework. It presents an example of the methodology used in the National Disability Survey in Afghanistan (NDSA) and discusses the general limitations and political implications involved. This paper is interesting for academics, practitioners and policy makers who are interested in disability prevalence
Working Paper Series No 4

Turning practice into policy : linking good practice community-based disaster risk management with government policy and practice

VENTON, Paul
FAILERO, Jessica
LA TROBE, Sarah
2007

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This report is to combine results that can then be used by civil society, governments and institutional donors to generate increased governmental support for Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM). It is divided into two parts; the first identifies good practices in CBDRM, and the second focuses on the challenges in linking CBDRM with government policy and practice, and the methods to overcome them

Household survey : a relevant tool for gathering information on disability?

BAKHSHI, Parul
TRANI, Jean-Francois
2007

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This paper argues that a household cross-sectional survey can provide useful information for policy planning albeit some methodological constraints must be dealt with and some limits are intrinsic to the tool. Despite the need for data on disability in developing countries for policy planning and mainstreaming persons with disability in existing programs of development, very few reliable data collection processes are available, and until the launch of a National Disability Survey in Afghanistan in 2005, stakeholders (Government, NGOs, UN agencies) were basing their programmes on unreliable estimates of prevalence and very few research based analyses

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