Introduction

Whereas religion acts as a double-edged sword in the lives of people with disabilities through its capacity to simultaneously disempower and empower, the pursuit of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 (‘The Africa We Want’) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2030 requires an investment in upholding the liberating power of religion. There is a major gap when such an important volume as The Routledge International Handbook of Disability and Global Health (Ned et al 2024) does not dedicate considerable space to the role of religion. If the spirit and mantra of ‘Leaving No One Behind’ that drives the SDGs is to be actualised, it is critical that religion, a significant social force in Africa and globally, be appropriated and deployed to secure the rights and guarantee the dignity of people with disabilities. There shall be no sustainable development when religion continues to subject people with disabilities to stigma and exclusion. Human flourishing shall remain a pipe dream when millions of people with disabilities are forced to navigate multiple disabling systems. For example, Sustainable Development Goal Number 5, ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’, will remain a forlorn ideal as long as women and girls with disabilities continue to bemoan their exclusion as follows:

As women and girls with disabilities, we face discrimination and exclusion on a number of grounds. Disability discrimination due to having a disability. Discrimination on the grounds of being a woman or girl and in many countries discrimination because of living in poverty. These are not the only factors causing discrimination for us as women and girls with disabilities but they are significant contributors.

(CBM n.d.: 4) Given the strategic role of religion in Africa, including its potential to contribute to development (see, e.g., Chitando, Gunda and Togarasei 2020; Gobo 2020; Golo and Novieto 2022), it is important to reflect on how religion can be a transformative resource for the inclusion of people with disabilities. This volume reflects on the theme of religion, disability and development in Africa. In this introduction, we focus on developments in African Theology and Religious Studies in relation to religion and disability. In particular, we reflect on Sinenhlanhla S. Chisale’s contribution and synthesise her understanding of development from her formulations. The first section summarises the following.