ABSTRACT
This chapter examines disability-inclusive development. Recognizing the ‘social’ is critical in addressing the challenges of the nearly one billion people with disabilities globally (80 per cent of whom live in developing countries), it argues that bringing the social back into disability-inclusive development debates requires seeing disability not as impairment but a failure in social institutions and physical environments that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in development processes. The chapter highlights the failures of mainstream development (and theories of development) in this respect, and advocates Critical Disability Theory as a new mode of enquiry that resituates the debate and produces new forms of knowledge that recognize the social and political constructions of disability, thus enabling research and policy to recommit to more inclusive development moving forwards. Here, I highlight the importance of a ‘twin-track’ approach to mainstreaming disabilities in development processes. First, is the removal of these social barriers to the participation of people with disabilities. Second is an empowerment-based approach through which disability-specific initiatives are undertaken to ensure that they have equal access to services, livelihoods, and social and political participation.
