Disaster and Disability in Bangladesh - Behinderung und Dritte Welt

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A RTIKELas those of medication and assistive devices)are increasing. In turn, less resources are availablefor the satisfaction of basic and otherneeds of other household members, and exacerbatingimpairment and deeper poverty. Evidencefrom Yemen (Grut and Ingstad 2006) forexample shows how marriage potential for girlsis negatively impacted when daughters are keptfrom getting married in order to care for thedisabled family member, again with seriouseconomic and social effects for these girls. Thepresence of a disabled family member, mayalso affect the marriage potential of siblings,especially in cultures where it is believed thatthe impairment is genetic (Coleridge 2007). Importantly,the dependence on and the ensuingimpacts on the household, implies that interventionor rather poverty reduction effortsshould be focused more broadly on supportingfamilies (as opposed to focusing exclusively onthe individual e.g. through one off job skillstraining programmes) while never losing sightof broader structural problems impacting wholecommunities. Ultimately, healthy, food secureand economically stronger families can becomea more reliable informal safety net for their disabledmembers, without compromising theirown health, consumption levels and well-being.Relationships within households: Intra-householdprocesses and disadvantages: Looking athouseholds also offers opportunities for lookingat the dynamics operating within them, and ifand how these impinge on the well-being andpoverty status of disabled people. The householduntil recently was believed to be an undifferentiatedunit, that is a site of sharing, cooperationand altruistic behavior, and wherewealth, goods and services were distributedequally. But this unitary view of the householdswas profoundly challenged especially by feministsin the 1970s, showing that the processeswithin households determine how resources aregenerated, controlled and distributed, and thatthese almost invariably disadvantage womenprocessesof power differentials, conflict and inequitableaccess to and control over resourcesand benefits (Bolt and Bird 2003). While intrahouseholddifferences on the basis of genderhave been acknowledged, differentials basedon disability remain largely unexplored, and littleis known about disabled people and theirroles, responsibilities, and access to assetswithin households. The social capital concept,or rather locating disability within the household,usefully opens up the analysis to thesemicro level relations. Acknowledging the possibilityof intra-household disadvantages remainsespecially important, since it helps counteractan essentially Western view of the unitaryhousehold composed of a nuclear family(households across cultures may include peoplewith no blood ties), and where all resourcesand power are distributed equally to the benefitof all members. At a more functional level, itmay highlight how the provision of services orother benefits directed at the household maynot necessarily reach disabled people, and thisimplies that we first need to understand how issuesof power, identity, and access are negotiatedwithin households, and the functions ofroles, norms and ideology in these.Individual or community rights? Positioningdisability within a relational context, provides amuch needed contribution to evaluating the applicabilityof the discourse on rights and antidiscriminationlegislation, emanating from andoften based on a Western individualistic perspective.While it is important to note that intheory rights holders also have obligations towardsothers, critics contend that these policiesand slogans (e.g. “rights not charity”) are oftenfar too detached from the social, historical, andcultural realities of the majority world, wherecommunity ties persist, and where individualrights may not be present or are overshadowedby relationships of mutual obligation and reciprocity(see for example Miles 2000, Ghai2002). These become critical in the presence ofintense and chronic poverty. In such circumstances,the notion of an independent individualas a rights holder may be idiosyncratic tothe strong social bonds and ways the individualis embedded therein, and therefore it may bemore pertinent and responsible to speak ofcommunity rights. In this case, addressing collectiveneeds may provide better opportunitiesfor social cohesion and economic stability forall, even though this requires greater politicalcommitment, resources and addressing thestructural causes of poverty. Collective interestsmay also not necessarily overcome individualones. Across cultures, the complexity and heterogeneityof individual and social and familycircumstances, and other factors and processes,makes the assumption of a unified and globalmove exclusively towards western individualism(and the valorisation of autonomy and self-determination)often untenable. Furthermore, atthe intersection of the local and the global,what often emerge are hybrid contexts adoptingelements of the old (the traditional) and thenew (the modern), which are difficult to separateand operate in various degrees, modalitiesand levels- to the extent that one can speak ofmultiple traditionalisms and modernities (seeGarcia-Canclini 2005). This may be evident in8 Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 1/2010
A RTIKELthe patterns of families in newly emergingeconomies (especially urban areas), retainingstrong cultures of relatedness and community ina way blending elements of both individualismand collectivism. Finally, the stronghold of resistantcultural beliefs and ideologies over people’sperceptions, attitudes and behaviours, arealso a critical factor in the debate, since thesewill not be changed through legislation alone.Instead, they continue to coexist and conditionthe applicability and possible outcomes of therights language alongside the nuances, opportunitiesand limitations offered by the social,economic, and political environment at themost micro levels.Social Capital, the Linkages and Access toOther AssetsThe second reason for the major attention paidto social capital in development has hinged onits presumed ability to provide access to otherassets, suggesting that social capital is not onlyan important asset in times of crisis, but aboveall may be called upon to lead to other materialgains (including other sources of capital). Thevalue of social capital is also enhanced whencombined with other types of capital. Burt(1997: 359) for example, highlights how socialcapital complements human capital 2 , statingthat the returns to intelligence depend on andare also contingent on where a person standsin the social structure of a market or hierarchy:“while human capital refers to individual ability,social capital refers to opportunity.” This hasrelevance to disability, especially since traditionallythe only interventions in the majorityworld, have often been limited to prevention,rehabilitation, and occasionally skills-training,and/or special and segregated education withoutaddressing the social element, and the influenceof this on the success or otherwise ofthese initiatives with disabled people. For example,while education and skills training areintrinsically valuable and can possibly lead toemployment (amongst other benefits), this taskbecomes increasingly difficult to achieve withoutconsidering social relationships in settingstypified by disproportionate employment in theinformal sector (especially in rural areas), andwhere such opportunities are generally soughtthrough informal contacts, relationships andword of mouth as opposed to more formalmeans (e.g. job adverts in newspapers).In a development sector characterised byshrinking funds (associated with the neoliberalcost cutting advocated by the World Bank andIMF), facilitating membership in networks orbroader structures became an attractive communitybased strategy aiding access to othertypes of capital that otherwise would not bepossible, such as education and health, employment,and income among others. The valueof social capital for example has been emphasisedas a critical factor in the emergent popularityof micro-credit schemes such as thewidely acclaimed Grameen Bank model. In thiscase, social capital generates one or more ofthree externalities: facilitates information transmissionabout the behaviour of others (reducesthe problem of opportunism); facilitates thetransmission of knowledge about markets (reducesmarket failures in information); and finallyreduces the problem of free-riding and sofacilitates collective action (Collier 1998). Socialcapital therefore reduces transaction costs (thecosts of information, monitoring and enforcementof contract terms) and enables a creditmarket to develop. Access to credit (from bothformal and informal sources) remains especiallyproblematic for disabled people, since they areoften disproportionately unemployed or underemployed,lack savings, and collateral (andhave limited self-employment possibilities) andsubject to the perception that they are noncreditworthyand/or unproductive citizens, to besupported solely through charity. In spite ofthese barriers, disabled people remain marginalisedfrom mainstream credit programmesoffered by development organisations, againconfronting multiple problems to access including:attitudinal barriers, insufficient start upcapital (symptomatic of profound poverty) andinability to satisfy programme requirementsamong others (see Cramm and Finkenflugel2008).It is at this point that it is important to analysewhat types of relationships lead to benefits,since it is an inaccurate assertion to suggestthat all relationships are a useful portal to alltypes of assets. Perhaps a useful point of departureis that while families and other poor peopleare often the only source of support forpoor disabled people, there is a limit to whatthey can obtain by making demands on eachother and their often limited resources. Indeed,high levels of bonding social capital amongpoor people do not necessarily lead to economicor other benefits, not only because ofpoor people’s scant assets, but above all becauseoften they are detached from organisedgroupings or lack contact with other groups(e.g. the gender movement) that may allowthem to coalesce and move ahead by augmentingpolitical, social and economic opportunities,put pressure on the state, and to challenge thestructural causes of poverty and social disad-Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 1/20109
Page 1 and 2: 21. JAHRGANG AUSGABE 1/2010Behinder
Page 3 and 4: E DITORIALLiebe Leserinnen und Lese
Page 5 and 6: A RTIKELthat relationships matter a
Page 7: A RTIKELet al. 2002: 28). In such c
Page 11 and 12: A RTIKELConclusionThis paper has ad
Page 13 and 14: A RTIKELschaften in der Konstruktio
Page 15 and 16: A RTIKELder Frühförderung für Ki
Page 17 and 18: A RTIKELbeinhalten die Rahmenbeding
Page 19 and 20: A RTIKELschaffung und Nachsorge die
Page 21 and 22: A RTIKELderte Kinder die Chance auf
Page 23 and 24: A RTIKELMaking it WorkFrom Good Pra
Page 25 and 26: A RTIKELGood Practice? Best Practic
Page 27 and 28: A RTIKELDisaster and Disability in
Page 29 and 30: A RTIKELtion: vulnerability due to
Page 31 and 32: A RTIKELings, training and material
Page 33 and 34: B ERICHTEIncluding Persons with Dis
Page 35 and 36: B ERICHTEin the resolution back the
Page 37 and 38: B ERICHTEren Lernbedürfnissen und
Page 39 and 40: B ERICHTEwobei bislang kaum Bedingu
Page 41 and 42: K URZMELDUNGENKurzmeldungenAktionsb
Page 43 and 44: L ITERATURrung von Projekten zur in
Page 45 and 46: VERANSTALTUNGEN10.05. - 12.05.2010
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Disaster and Disability in Bangladesh - Behinderung und Dritte Welt

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