Understanding Disability from a South Indian Perspective: A Case of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the disability understanding and perceptions towards physical people within the context of South India, drawing upon both secondary published sources, as well as interviews conducted with disabled people and their families in Andhra Pradesh. The paper compares and contrasts the experiences of disabled people in relation to the medical and social models of disability. Specifically, the paper will consider community attitudes encountered by disabled people and their families in both rural and urban areas; the relation between poverty, employment and disability; the issue of marriage and sexual relations of disabled people; and the apparent gender bias in the provision of community-based disability services in the South Indian context. The principal findings of this research showed that the notion of “disablement” is both socially and culturally defined. What is considered a “disability” within a western society may not necessarily be the case in a society such as South India. For example, a person in South India who has dyslexia will find it comparative easy to obtain employment, where in a predominantly rural agrarian society, it is not a prerequisite to read to obtain work. The conclusion is that people prepares to enter and people presently in the helping professions, but more importantly teachers of people studying to enter the helping professions, must be aware of the influence of their welfare schemes and religious perspectives and how to counter any negative effects which are to be found.