Economic and Social Development

Abstract

Disability is linked to development in a manner that is neither obvious nor well established. For instance, increased disability may be the result of advances in health signaling broad based welfare improvements, or societies may be in such economic or political disorder that continued poverty or war conflict leads to a rise in the prevalence of disability. At the same time, disability seems to impede development through the constraints it places on individuals’ productivities and earning capacities. These complications combined with a dearth of comparable data may explain why the link between disability and development has been the subject of very little research in both the disability and development literatures. More attention has been granted to the link between disability and poverty, widely accepted as a vicious circle. The relation between development and disability may be understood as a two way street, where development affects disability and vice versa. Disability and development are intertwined, and we seek to understand both strands of the relationship. The major part of this review explores aspects of the relationship at a macro level, while touching upon micro- and policy level links as well.