Social Protection and Disability: A Call for Action

Abstract

This article reviews the relationship between social protection and disability in theory and practice. Persons with disabilities and their families may be considered among the most worthy recipients of social protection due to their vulnerability to chronic poverty and social exclusion. A review of cash transfer programmes for persons with disabilities reveals positive economic, social and service access outcomes. However, coverage and benefit levels remain low. This article calls for the state to play a greater role in the provision of social assistance for persons with disabilities in developing countries. Policies and programmes which protect economic security should be combined with those which promote an enabling environment in which people can achieve security of livelihood.

Social protection for people with disabilities in Africa and Asia: a review of programmes for low- and middle-income countries

“…The findings of the study provide the first overview of social protection programmes for people with disabilities in Africa and Asia. They indicate that while attention to this topic has been lacking (Palmer, 2013;) this does not mean that there are no programmes already in place. However, although the data enables broad trends in regional and country approaches to be identified, it is not sufficient to assess either the quality of these programmes or the degree to which people with disabilities are actually being included within the social protection system as a whole.…”

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in systems of social protection: a population-based survey and case–control study in Peru

“…There is a lack of evidence on the inclusion of people with disabilities into social protection programmes in low-income and middle-income countries with which we can compare our findings. 33 However, existing studies suggest that barriers faced by people with disabilities include inaccessible administrative offices and service providers, discrimination by programme staff, problems complying with conditions attached to benefits and limited awareness of entitlements among people with disabilities themselves. 34 The failure to take the higher expenditures people with disabilities face and their particular needs (eg, accessing health and education services) may limit the impact of programmes in addition to their levels of access.…”

Disability Inclusion in Nigeria

“…Disability and poverty interact in a vicious cycle such that persons with disabilities are among the poorest of the poor, with limited access to education, employment, or livelihoods. Coupled with adequate access to basic services, social protection can provide livelihood security of and alleviate poverty among persons with disabilities (Palmer 2013;UNICEF 2015).…”

“…Studies on the coverage of persons with disabilities by the conditional cash transfers in Nigeria are sparse. A review of cash transfer programs for persons with disabilities in developing countries generally indicate positive socioeconomic and service access outcomes, but coverage and benefit levels remain low (Palmer 2013). Leonard Cheshire (2018) reported a social protection coverage of 1.4 percent for persons with disabilities in Nigeria compared with 2.4 percent for persons without disabilities.…”