ABSTRACT
Culture is unique to a particular group of people that share all aspects of life in common (Cardwell, Clark, & Meldrum, 2004, p. 953) and can be further defi ned as including all aspects “relating to the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a society” (Soanes & Stevenson, 2003, p. 422). One can argue that the region concerned in this book is made up of a complex mix of different cultures, each viewing individuals with disabilities from their own traditions and different beliefs, resulting in the holistic needs of such individuals being met in varied ways and levels of effectiveness accordingly. Nevertheless, the region, due to many factors including geographical and in some cases religious bonds, shares a rather ‘common’ cultural understanding of special needs and disabilities that affects the way policies are produced and provisions are made. This common understanding is largely much based on supporting the ‘weak and vulnerable’ from a charity-based approach rather than supporting citizens with equal rights and benefi ts from a rights-based approach as the region is still in a transitional phase between the two notions.
