in English - Handicap International

More inequality. The Latin American and
Caribbean region (LAC) is the most unequal
region in the world. According to data from
CEPAL (Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean), 181 million Latin
Americans are poor and 70 million more are
indigent (October 2009).
Population: Based on estimates by WHO, at
least 79 million people in Latin America and
the Caribbean have some type of disability.
Poverty: More than 80% of disabled people in
LAC live (or survive) in conditions of poverty.
Consequently, there are close to 63 million
poor people with disabilities.
Education: Only 20-30% of disabled children in
LAC attend school. This is due to the lack of
accessible transportation and infrastructure,
trained teachers and didactic materials, etc.
- Infusion of aid and new projects in countries in current favor with development
agencies and investment policies, followed by abandonment
when attention is refocused to other countries;
- Isolation of disability and development projects from mainstream development
programs and goals of a particular country;
- Pervasiveness of prevention as the development community’s response
to disability;
- Failure to include the principle of accessibility in ordinary development
programs;
- Lack of shared information (on a domestic or international basis) about
objectives and results of disability projects, so that, in effect, each project
is developed (and often dies) in a vacuum.
Employment: Between 80-90% of people with
disabilities in LAC are unemployed, and almost
all of those who have jobs receive low salaries
or no monetary compensation.
Health services: Most people with disabilities
in the region do not have access to health
services.
Some data from Latin America and the Caribbean
that illustrates the existing relationship between poverty
and disability
39