Disabled people have been denied access to full and equal participation in their societies, putting them amongst the poorest of the poor. They are left behind to suffer the symptoms of a lack of development, malnutrition, poor sanitation, lack of immunisation, poverty, and poor health.
Development programmes can no longer make excuses for not addressing disability.
"Overlooking or ignoring the plight of disabled people is not an option that an acceptable theory of justice can have." Amartya Sen
"Unless disabled people are brought into the development mainstream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance to achieve a primary education by the same date - goals agreed to by more than 180 world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000"
James Wolfensohn
DAA publishes the following papers on subjects related to Development:
“Disability is a human rights issue! I repeat: disability is a human rights issue.”
A New Voice shouts to the Commonwealth - “Nothing About Us Without Us”
Most people in our society do not yet see the connections between different forms of oppression, or even have a general sense of how oppression works. Therefore, we still find ourselves dealing in most instances with one form of oppression at a time, and in a given setting, we are either in the role of oppressed or ally.
A Manifesto for Disability Equality in Development Cooperation.
Progress in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child
2002
The picture at the top of this page is from Project Projimo in Mexico