Abstract
BackgroundWhereas most narratives of disability in sub-Saharan Africa stress barriers and exclusion, Africans with disabilities appear to show resilience and some appear to achieve success. In order to promote inclusion in development efforts, there is a need to challenge narratives of failure.ObjectivesTo gather life histories of people with disabilities in three sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Uganda and Sierra Leone) who have achieved economic success in their lives and to analyse factors that explain how this success has been achieved.MethodsQualitative research study of economic success involving life history interviews with 105 participants with disabilities from both urban and rural settings recruited through disabled people’s organisations and non-governmental organisation partners, framework analysis of transcripts to chart success and success factors.ResultsParticipants had faced barriers in education, employment and family life. They had largely surmounted these barriers to achieve success on an equal basis with others. They were working in private and public sectors and were self-employed farmers, shopkeepers and craftspeople.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that, given the right support, disabled people can achieve economic success, with the implication being that investment in education or training of disabled people can be productive and should be part of overall development efforts for economic reasons, not solely to achieve social justice goals.
Highlights
Whereas most narratives of disability in sub-Saharan Africa stress barriers and exclusion, Africans with disabilities appear to show resilience and some appear to achieve success
Disabled Africans face structural factors such as barriers in the environment, in education and in employment, as well as widespread discriminatory attitudes, that limit their chances of achieving success on an equal basis with others (BandaChalwe, Nitz & De Jonge 2013; Groce et al 2011; WHO 2011)
Eide and Ingstad (2013) summarise the findings of the 2002–2013 series of seven SINTEF surveys on disability in Africa: Key indicators on education, mental and physical health, employment, socio-economic status, access to information, social participation, et cetera all point in the same direction: there are substantial gaps in services to disabled people, disability is associated with a lower level of living when compared to nondisabled persons, women with disabilities are worse off than males, and the rural disabled have a lower level of living than their urban counterparts. (p. 2)
Summary
In understanding the experience of disability in Africa, in terms of poverty and livelihoods, there appears to be a paradox. As in most developing countries, a person with disability is more likely to be seen begging at the traffic lights than to be encountered as a teacher or doctor or shopkeeper (Groce et al 2013) Faced with these barriers to achievement, it is no surprise that research finds deep cultural beliefs about disability and incapacity across the African continent (Munsaka & Charnley 2013; Swartz & Marchetti-Mercer 2017). To be successful was to enjoy economic prosperity on an equal basis with others, to use the language of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities In this project, the researchers were looking for persons with disabilities who were either working as self-employed people or employed in mainstream, DPO or non-governmental organisation (NGO) settings. The current paper reports on the findings about the extent and nature of success experienced by these participants, whereas a subsequent paper will analyse the factors that might explain this success
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