Disaster and Disability in Bangladesh - Behinderung und Dritte Welt

A RTIKELA Space for ‘Development’: Engaging Social Capitalin Reflecting on Disability in the Majority WorldShaun GrechThis paper seeks to bridge the gap between disability and development studies by exploring avenues for the applicationof social capital in elucidating and exploring broader epistemological and practical issues in the debate ondisability in the majority world 1 . The paper argues that social capital, despite its neoliberal undertones and opportunisticstance in its adoption by the development sector, provides useful avenues for bringing development anddisability closer together, as well as focusing discussion on local contexts, and the role of social relationships andcommunity in the construction of disability, as a source of security, access to resources, and often survival in theabsence of formal safety nets. Social capital may also draw attention to and potentially challenge the Western emphasison self-reliance and independence (individualism), as well as discourse about the presumed (universal)treatment of disabled people across cultures. This opens up the analysis to more micro views of disability withinlocal and social settings and associated factors and processes, notably poverty and its dynamics.IntroductionAs recent as the late 1990s, references to thelinkages between disability and poverty (oftendepicted as a cycle), and broader shifts in thedevelopment sector (most notably the move towardsa human development paradigm, thepromotion of a rights-based approach and inclusivedevelopment) seemed to indicate thatdisability finally found a place on the broaderpoverty reduction agenda. In line with this, increasingreference (especially in organisationalpolicy documents in the development sector) tothe need to mainstream disability in development(see for example DFID 2000; EC 2004;GTZ 2006, 2009; CBM 2007) continue to markpositive shifts at least at the level of rhetoric inmaking disability a development issue and concern.In spite of this, in practice, disability stillremains marginal on the development agendaat research, policy and programme levels. Onthe other hand, the Western disability studiesdebate remains firmly grounded in and reflectingthe concerns of disabled people in Westernsettings, discourse often detached from thewidely complex and diverse socio-economic,cultural and political realities of non-Westerncountries, and the implications of these for disabledpeople.Linkages between disability and developmentstudies remain notably shortcoming,maintaining the stark dissociation of issues ofpoverty from those of disability and vice versa,despite the frequent reference to the mutuallyreinforcing disability/poverty relationship. It isinteresting to note that while disability studiesconcepts (especially from the US and the UK),notably the British social model and disabilityrights, have found substantial support in recentyears in the discussions about disability in themajority world (and adopted by numerous organizationsin their work), the application ofdevelopment theory and concepts to the studyof disability in such settings, remains seriouslyshortcoming. While recently, some efforts havebeen expounded at engaging concepts largelyused in development, notably Sen’s (1999) capabilitiesapproach to disability (see for exampleMitra 2006) and to a much lesser extent,the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (Grech2008), other development concepts and analyticalframeworks remain to date marginalized.One such concept is that of social capital, whichin a development field dominated by economists,at least in rhetoric usefully came to givea name to the social element, highlighting howthe way people interact and organize themselvesare a fundamental process in the waygrowth and development are generated andstructural inequities addressed.To emphasise, this paper is not a criticalevaluation or promotion of social capital as astandalone concept, but instead simply uses itas a platform to discuss broader and morecomplex issues related to disability and developmentin the so-called majority world. Morebroadly, this paper seeks to bridge the confinesof disciplinary boundaries, a much needed approachto develop more complex, sensitive andmulti-layered analyses for a disability studiesthat we may call global.What is Social Capital?Social capital is a fluid term “characterised bywide usage and great looseness of application”(Du Toit et al. 2005: 3), but the basic premise is4 Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 1/2010