Despite having robust laws in place PWDs are often excluded from daily life. The 2003 report Chronic Poverty and Disability in Uganda summarizes obstacles to participation that PWDs face under the following headings: education, health, Agriculture and socialization:
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| Leave no one behind |
Education
Blind
- No schools for blind (all sites visited).
- Education for blind children not integrated in present educational system
- Equipment and facilities for training of blind children lacking.
- Functional adult literacy programme has no component for blind persons.
Deafness
- Very few schools use sign language for training or offer sign language training itself.
- Existing schools for the deaf are more expensive than other average schools (Children in Ibanda school for the deaf pay shs 40,000/=, 8kgs of beans & 38 kgs of maize flour; Ntinda school for the deaf children charge 80000/= a term compared to 24000/= paid by children in UPE schools in Kampala).
- Trained teachers for deaf children absent in most schools ; some only improvise in their teaching (Tukore Salvation Stream School in Mbarara district has some untrained teachers but who teach “some” sign language.
Physically Disabled (mostly due to paralysis of limbs)
- Excluded from classrooms that have narrow entrances, and are physically inaccessible (e.g. steps).
- Distance to the school may prohibit some, especially when it rains.
- Lack of mobility appliances (due to cost or availability).
- Inaccessible and poor sanitary facilities in schools a prohibiting factor.
Mental DisabilityHealth
- Majority are not taken to schools as this is considered a “waste of time”.
- Those that are taken to schools are often ignored by the teachers as they “cannot slow down the progress of all others for the sake of one or two slow learners”.
- Existing schools focus on livelihood skills only - no academic pursuits.
- Epileptic children are often excluded from schooling or severely stigmatised.
BlindAgriculture
Deafness
- Services are not friendly to blind people (directions to patients are on posters).
- Often not attended to in health units if coming without a guide.
- Rarely know “what is going on” when nurses just call out “… the next person in line”.
- Harassed by nurses when they go for ante-natal care (“Why do you ever get pregnant?”).
- Sometimes raped by those who pretend to be assisting them.
Physically Disabled (mostly due to paralysis of limbs)
- Without training in sign language health workers are unable to understand the nature of ailments being expressed to them - illnesses are subsequently only treated on assumptions.
- Vulnerable to sexual harassment and rape, which sometimes leads to STIs and HIV/AIDS, and to low selfesteem
Mental Disability
- Vulnerable to infections due to the hazardous environments in which some live - especially if crawling
- Access to health units problematic especially in rural areas where most facilities are located in distances of over 2-3 kms.
- Psychiatric drugs are not available in Government hospitals where the majority community members seek medical care (they are not considered to be a priority).
- First resort for the treatment of mentally ill persons is to traditional healers, and proper diagnosis is usually lacking.
- Workers at local health units are not trained to respond to cases of depression or early signs of mental illness leading to a worsening of the disability.
Blind
Deafness
- Improper training leads to low adaptability in agriculture (for example cases reported of blind farmers uprooting produce instead of weeds).
- Depend on expensive hired labour, but have to rely on the word (honesty) of the hired as they cannot assess the work done themselves.
- Depend on honesty of employees or family members in harvesting.
- Easily vulnerable to dangerous animals such as snakes
Physically Disabled (mostly due to paralysis of limbs)
- Unable to bargain for fair prices with produce buyers due to communication problems - leads to exploitation.
- Information on agricultural extension does not reach deaf persons as extension staff cannot communicate, no materials are available in print, and many deaf persons cannot read.
Mental Disability
- Challenged by labour intensive requirements in most agricultural production.
- No barriers noted
Socialization
BlindThe report concludes:
Deafness
- Cannot participate in social events that have sight focus.
Physically Disabled (mostly due to paralysis of limbs)
- Absence of a common communication medium makes socialisation a major challenge.
- Deaf persons unable to shar e ideas and experience with peers.
- Stigmatised and “left alone”.
- Exploited by employers who know that deaf persons would find it extremely difficult to report them.
Mental Disability
- No barriers noted
- Discriminated by both able bodied and fellow disable d people.
Available evidence from Uganda so far confirms that disability has a close relationship with chronic poverty, but that the detailed nature of this relationship needs to be further explored. It is also evident that insufficient understanding exists regarding the specific nature of relationships between different categories of disability and poverty, given that different kinds of disabilities lead to very different social needs and problems. Further, evidence suggests that current policies and programmes aimed at poverty eradication in the country are inadequate in addressing matters of chronic poverty among people with disabilities. In the first place the need for disabled people to “survive within structures that assume that people are ablebodied” Secondly, it is discrimination, rather than disability itself, which is at the heart of the exclusion experienced by disabled people thereby leading to a greater risk of poverty. The need to gain a better understanding of the intricate relationships between chronic poverty and disability thus makes the current study a vital one.Despite robust laws designed to protect PWDs, PWDs still face many barriers accessing facilities like education, health, agriculture and social activities. This report confirms that the theory that poverty and disability enhance each other is correct. In real life PWDs face an uphill battle fighting poverty. Chronic poverty and disability then are a in a close relationship that is not clearly understood. his relationship needs to be understood in the Ugandan context. One finding that should give heart to all PWDs is that discrimination rather disability is at the heart of the exclusion PWDs face. Any removal of barriers will help overcoming chronic poverty.
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