Towards Economic Empowerment for Disabled People: Exploring ...

“all disabled people experience disability as social restriction, whether
those restrictions occur as a consequence of inaccessible built
environments, questionable notions of intelligence and social
competence, the inability of the general population to use sign
language, the lack of reading material in braille or hostile public
attitudes to people with non-visible disabilities” (1990, pxiv).
It follows from Oliver’s argument that it makes more sense to categorise the
various types of impairment that a disabled person may have, rather than the
disability itself. There is some evidence of an association between the type (or
types) or impairment that a disabled person has and the levels of
discrimination and barriers to participation that they face. The World
Disability Report, for example, states that “people who experience mental
health conditions or intellectual impairments appear to be more disadvantaged
in many settings than those with physical or sensory impairments” (WHO &
World Bank, 2011, p8).
Besides impairment type, disabled people can be differentiated by a
multiplicity of social factors, each of which may be a basis for additional
marginalization. The UNCRPD recognises this, pointing out that disabled
people may be “subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on
the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other
status” (UN, 2006, Preamble, (p)). The Convention pays particular attention to
gender discrimination, recognising that “women and girls with disabilities are
subject to multiple discrimination” (ibid, Article 6). Morris (1998) observes
the close association between poverty and single parenthood, which often
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