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Development assistance: disability and education in Southern Africa
- Authors:
- KABZEMS Venta, CHIMEDZA Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 17(2), March 2002, pp.147-157.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper discusses development assistance on disability and education in southern Africa. Development assistance for people with disabilities has for a long time been based on the charity and medical models. It has not been perceived in the context of national development. Many development agencies and charitable organisations tend to emphasises their own agenda, which may not necessarily be that of the local people with disabilities. As a result, the anticipated impact of development assistance in the region for people with disabilities has not been realised. This paper challenges this position and advocates for a more participatory approach by the locals. Using Lesotho as an example, the paper shows how development assistance can be made to be more successful through community participation and change of attitudes across all sectors of the community.
No African renaissance without disabled women: a communal approach to human development in Cape Town South Africa
- Author:
- LORENZO Theresa
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 18(6), October 2003, pp.759-778.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Disabled women who live in wooden shacks in the peri-urban areas of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa, participated in storytelling workshops over a two-and-a-half-year period. They shared experiences of what helped or hindered their social and economic development since becoming disabled. The workshops were part of a participatory action research (PAR) study of the Division of Occupational Therapy, University of Cape Town, together with Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) and the Zanempilo Health Trust [formerly South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA) Primary Health Care Project]. The findings revealed the struggles and sadness, as well as the strengths and spirit that the women experienced within their every day context at an individual, family and community level. The women spoke strongly about meeting physical, emotional, and spiritual needs (human development) as the means to social and economic development. The discussion reflects on the many paradoxes of disability encapsulated in the essence of interdependence of Ubuntu. Three themes discussed are building emotional resourcefulness: nurturing children and families in disability issues; and renewing spirituality and Ubuntu in disability and development programmes. In conclusion, managing the paradoxes of disability, the creation of a new individual and collective identity, and the capacity to change are proposed as the way forward.