In the Long Run

Abstract

Uganda has progressive legislation in place to support the rights of people with disabilities, and it has received donor support over the years for special education and community-based rehabilitation programs. Yet while political mobilization and interventions that aim to minimize disabling conditions have been important, they are not necessarily seen as a means to achieving rights and selfsufficiency. Using examples of families I have known for decades, I show how disability interventions and institutions affect their lives in the long run. James Ferguson's approach to relations of dependence is useful in understanding how people in eastern Uganda perceive the possibilities in disability projects. I contrast global health time as instantiated in such projects with lifetimes of people and families with disabilities. Humanitarian and development projects sometimes feed into life projects such as education, housing, livelihood, and making families. But their impact is often not so great in the long run of lifetimes intertwined with lives of intimate others.

Theories and practices of disability from the Global South: a critical anthropological perspective

“…Neither humanitarian development's emphasis on creating educational capital and market-driven working capacities in disabled individuals ( 23 , 107 , 108 ) nor global and national and humanitarian-driven entrepreneurial activities for people with disabilities ( 76 , 109 , 111 ) have changed these disadvantageous and unfavorable living conditions. Hence, their long-term impact has been significant ( 112 ).…”

Technologies of care and the engineering imaginary: Two approaches to assistive device design for the Global South

“…However, the civilian experience does not mirror the experience of military veterans with disabilities in Uganda. Although Uganda has long been lauded for its progressive disability inclusion policies, political participation does not necessarily extend to Ugandan expectations for material or vocational support from the government (Whyte, 2020; Zoanni, 2019; Zoanni, 2022). In contrast to people living in some other parts of the world, most Ugandans do not have expectations that the government will support them with accessibly designed infrastructure (Hartblay, 2017).…”