I have written this piece following a series of concerning interactions with a large disability-focused non-governmental organization (NGO). I hope that telling this story will help disabled people, grassroots disability rights activists, and large disability organizations find more productive ways to support one another. The major issues with NGOs highlighted here include: NGOs not understanding […]
Disability inclusive development: bullshit bingo?
The disability and development sector like the development space itself, has seen its own lexica of funky words over the past decade or so. From the early days of ‘disability mainstreaming’ and ‘twin-tracking’ to more recent emphases on ‘inclusive development’ and now the latest buzzword ‘disability inclusive development’, it is more than apparent that: The […]
Ghana: ‘We lock up our child with Cerebral Palsy so we can go out and earn a living’
Mr Timothy Nakoja, father of a 14 year old boy with cerebral palsy has said his family is forced to lock up his soon indoors to enable them to work and earn a living. He said that this was not so much a choice or a matter of cruel treatment, but a response to the […]
Poverty, migration and disability in India: from challenges to change
By Shikha Gupta & Atul Jaiswal Globally, approximately 285 million people of the world’s population live with visual impairment, out of which 39 million are blind. In India, there are around 62 million people with visual impairment, of who which 8 million are blind and 54 million with low vision. India is home to the world’s […]
Ghana: I dream of the day that children with cerebral palsy can have opportunities
I recently had an opportunity to talk to a pastor of a well-known church in Ghana about cerebral palsy (CP). The church is known for organising charity events for people with disability, including free medical screening. Nevertheless, when it comes to CP as an issue, knowledge as it seems remains lacking. As we talked, he would […]