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Dr. Turmusani is a Palestinian who lived as refugee in Jordan for most of his life. He specializes in disability and development and currently working on developing disability policy and strategy with Handicap International under United Nations Mission in Kosovo. After completion of PhD in 1999, he joined Centre for International Child Health (CICH), University College London, working on a joint CBR project between WHO and CICH. Contact: 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH. UK Email: Turmusani@hotmail.com

Poverty, disability and employment in under-resourced countries: evidence from Jordan.

Majid Turmusani

Introduction

Poverty, disability and unemployment exist throughout the world and have detrimental impact on the level of inclusion in society. Using materialist analysis to explore these notions shows that capitalist development, although not exclusively the only factor responsible for the creation of this triangle (poverty, disability and unemployment), is still having particular impact on disabled people’s issues as well as on the life of society more generally. The way labour market and labour force is being organised has always been influential in determining those subscribing to the population of the poor, disabled people or those who are employed. This is particularly evident in the West, but also true in many developing societies who are now witnessing similar stage of development.

From the perspective of the social model advocated in this account, poverty, disability, unemployment and other developmental issues are considered socially constructed and culturally produced in a given society. Hence, this suggests society as the focal point of action to deal with such issues having created them in the first place. This is mainly through restructuring societal policies and provisions including those of the economy.

The relationship between poverty, disability and employment is in fact a vicious circle. Poverty leads to disability (i.e. resulting in diseases and impairments) and disability often leads to unemployment. Equally true, disability leads to poverty in the sense that those with impairments will engender extra cost of living related to their specific needs. On the other hand, the absence of remunerated employment opportunities (i.e. income) apparently leads to poverty for both disabled and non-disabled people alike. But it can also lead directly to disabling condition in the form of depression, other psychological disorders, as well as disabilities that result from poor diet which can cause impairment.

Therefore, it is argued that poverty alleviation is a key solution in preventing disability directly and indirectly, especially in countries with low resources such as in developing world where no welfare system exists to cater for the needs of disadvantaged groups including those with impairments such as in the west. Breaking the chain of economic dependency of the poor requires the eradication of poverty to help overcome the problems of social and economic deprivation. In this sense, poverty eradication can be regarded as a prerequisite to development.

Various measures can be considered as instrumental strategies in fighting widespread poverty, economic inequality and social exclusion of disabled people. This primarily includes different kinds of remunerated employment schemes as well as policies, legislation and welfare provisions. Together, these may facilitate the creation of inclusive society, which allows disabled people develop their economic potentials and ultimately strengthen their independent life.

Yet, poverty, social and economic deprivation is the everyday experience of people with impairments in developing countries. Their access to various services is often restricted and their opportunity to secure enough income to meet their basic needs is almost non existent. This makes remunerated employment a matter of economic survival for disabled people and their families. This chapter highlights poverty and employment of disabled people in developing countries by drawing particularly on the experience of their fellow in Jordan (Turmusani, 1999). It shows that disabled people share similar concerns in terms of the general disadvantaged position they live in which largely restricts their opportunity and limit their inclusion in society.

Disabled people and economic needs in developing countries

Disability from the perspective of the social model is seen as a product of a disabled person’s relationship to the economy (Finkelstein, 1980; Stone, 1984). Because disabled people are seen as unable to contribute to the economy due to their functional limitation, they are being excluded from work place and suffer great social and

economic deprivation (Oliver, 1990; Doyle, 1995). Disabled people are especially disadvantaged in meeting their basic needs including the economic ones such as the need for remunerated employment (Turmusani, 1999).

This understanding of the need for economic participation as basic runs parallel with the “basic needs” approach to development, which was developed in late 1970’s as a result of the failure of economic growth to alleviate poverty in many developing countries. This is focused on the idea that everyone should have access to enough basic goods and services to maintain a level of living above the basic minimum as a prerequisite and prime objective of economic development. This focus on a human need for income highlights the importance of paid work in providing for people’s basic needs. Paid employment is often considered as basic needs due to being crucial in meeting the subsistence requirements of people including those with impairments.

According to this account which focuses on the needs of people participating in the economic system, economic needs are essential to human existence. Although basic needs are constructed as universal, their satisfaction is very often relative across cultures (Wetherely, 1996), depending on the available welfare resources in a given society as well as on the socially constructed nature of basic needs in different societies. Economic participation via employment may be particularly important where no welfare system exists to support those who have no work, as is the case for many disabled people, or who have no other means of subsistence (ESCR, 1976; ILO, 1995).

Although the distinction between the West and developing countries becomes less of an effective measure for the difference between regions in the world, in developing countries the needs and priorities of disabled people are different from those in Western society. While disabled people in many Western societies are often concerned about equality and anti-discrimination legislation, disabled people in developing countries are mainly calling for meeting their survival needs1. In particular disabled people in these countries often place their need for a source of income at the

¹It should be noted however, that anti-discrimination legislation issues are not always at te forefront of

Western societies. For example, Belguim does not have anti-discrimination legislation while a country such as Zimbabwe has successfully lobbied and got one.

top of their list of priorities followed by housing, transport, sex, and rehabilitation (Coleridge, 1993). It is not surprising that income is often put in first place, given that many developing countries do not have a welfare system to support disabled people. While reflecting the desperate problem of poverty in these communities, this points to the importance of establishing welfare systems as well as employment opportunities across all societies. The need for a source of income was also listed among the primary needs of disabled people in Jordan2 (Turmusani, 1999). Disabled people in Jordan identified two categories of needs. The first of which they considered primary economic needs and included the need for employment (i.e. private, government, sheltered, co-operative and self-employment); and the need for welfare benefits and financial assistance from the state (i.e. need for benefits, exemptions and concessions and marketing). Concrete examples of people with disabilities who experience employment conditions are included in later analysis. The second category comprised needs which they considered subordinate to their economic inclusion in society. This included needs associated with the built environment such as accessibility, housing, and transport; the need for services such as education, training, provision of sign language and medical care; and needs related to public understanding of disability such as the need for information, attitudes, awareness, legislation, advocacy and NGO’s, and the need for establishing one’s own family.

Meeting basic needs of disabled people have been recognised as human rights by several international conventions and declarations. Article 159 of the UN declaration on the rights of disabled people (1976) for example outlines particularly the importance for measures designed to enable disabled people to become as self-reliant as possible. The means by which self reliance can be enhanced includes provision of vocational training and rehabilitation, aid, counselling and placement services; economic and social security;

²This empirical study investigated the economic position of disabled people in Jordan in terms of their self-defined needs, priorities and perception of existing provisions. The research included 181 disabled women and men who were involved in economic activities using a participatory approach to research. Findings show the severe disadvantages disabled people experience in their social and economic life (Turmusani, 1999).

a decent standard of living; secure employment; useful, productive and remunerative occupation; and trade unions.

Despite these measures, disabled people continued to experience discrimination in all spheres of life, especially in the economy. Disabled people are in fact severely disadvantaged in the labour market in two ways. The level of unemployment is high among disabled people, and their pattern of participation is characterised by poor conditions. Disabled people are more likely to be out of work for a longer period of time than the general population, and when they do find a job, they are usually in low paid, semi-skilled positions, working longer hours, in poor conditions (Hirst and Baldwin 1994). There are two groups of disabled people who have acute problems with regard to employment, those with severe impairment who are expected to remain at home all day and those who are less severely disabled who are expected to obtain open or sheltered employment (Thornton, 1998).

Previous analysis shows that a source of income whether from paid employment or via welfare benefits was identified by disabled people across the world as essential for meeting their basic needs. Yet as being argued later, the majority of disabled people across the world are having difficulties accessing such income and subsequently experience poverty and inequality.

Poverty and disabled people

Disabled people across the globe are highly represented among the poor. It is estimated that about two thirds of disabled people in the USA, UK and Canada live below the poverty line (OPCS2, 1989). In many developing countries, however, the overwhelming majority of the disabled population live in poverty (Coleridge, 1993). Disabled women are highly represented among the poor and they are often subjected to social, cultural and economic disadvantages which limit their access, for example, to health care, education, vocational training and employment (DAA/UNESCO, 1995).

There are two positions concerning poverty and disability. The first revolves around the fact that poverty is considered to be an important cause of impairment and disability especially in the third world, where inequalities in social and economic life are often obvious. The second argument concerns the fact that disabled people are more likely to experience higher levels of financial difficulties due to the way labour force is organised. These two positions are explained below.

Poverty as Factor Underlying the Prevalence of Impairment Poverty and inequality exist throughout the world and many who are poor even in developed societies suffer greatly. In developing countries, however, the extent of poverty is far greater and its implications can be more severe. Poverty can lead to impairment in a number of ways. Among the most important is the lack of sufficient nutrition, which can directly result in the impairment of mental and physical functioning. In addition, weakened bodies can be prone to disease which can in turn lead to impairment (Coleridge, 1993; Helander, 1993; Harris-White, 1994; Doyle, 1995; Beresford, 1996).

There are 100 million people globally with impairments caused by malnutrition and 200,000 children become blind every year because of Vitamin A deficiency (DAA/UNESCO, 1995). The correlation between poverty, impairment and disability is indicated by the higher incidence of impairments in rural communities of these countries, which are likely to be subject to poverty, lack of basic services and negative socio-economic and environmental conditions.

Disabled people are disempowered by the current economic situation. This essentially means that people suffer from impairments caused by poverty because of the inability of the state to provide a welfare system to its citizens, which includes medical support. Thus, from this point of view, all efforts should be directed and mobilized towards confronting poverty in order to break the chain of economic dependency of disabled people. One important action, which should be addressed, is to enhance economic participation and access to work. This will help to meet the basic needs of disabled people and place them in a better position to realize long term personal development.

The priority should be to organize or re-organize the labour force (i.e. accessible credit funding and self-employment) in such a way that it is accessible to disabled people.

Thus, breaking the chain of economic dependency of disabled people helps to alleviate problems of impairment, the extra costs of living with impairment, unemployment, limited access to services and information, and negative attitudes towards those with impairments. It is often regarded as the state’s responsibility to look after the welfare rights of its citizens. The developed world nonetheless, can take note of how poverty contributes to impairment and to assume some responsibility towards fighting poverty there, given that it has to some extent contributed to the present problems of underdeveloped countries. Progress can be made by making resources available to local people in poor countries and helping them to campaign to change the policies of Western provision for example, by changing overseas aid policy to one, which emphasizes a new participatory role for local people.

Poverty as an outcome of disability The second argument in the relationship between poverty and disability concerns the fact that disabled people are more likely to experience financial difficulties as well as social and economic deprivation, especially in the developed world, because society is organised around the needs of the non-disabled majority. For example, disability imposes a multitude of extra and hidden costs on those who have impairments, so that they may easily fall into severe financial deprivation and despair (Rock, 1981; Berthoud, 1991; Berthoud et al, 1993). In this sense, poverty, like other consequences of societal discrimination, restricts disabled people’s rights and undermines their ability to fulfill their private and social obligations. Poverty thus, is not the cause of disability but the symptom and the outcome of a disabling society (i.e. exclusion and unemployment.

The 1989 OPCS survey in UK highlight the relation between disability and poverty (i.e. financial needs). Impairments often cause specific needs and cost, and also results in a reduction in the earnings for disabled people and their families (Walker and Walker’s, 1991). The financial cost of disability include loss of earnings of disabled people and their relatives, cost of public provision by Non-Governmental

Organisations (NGO’s), and extra costs of living faced by disabled people. These financial implications of disability, however, have not been adequately recognized by social policies in the UK (Dalley, 1991). Rather they are dealt with in a discriminatory way, especially as regards criteria used to decide who deserves benefits and who does not, given that these criteria focus on the cause of impairment rather than the individual needs. For example, people injured in war receive a considerably higher level of benefits than people born with similar injuries.

The risk of falling into deeper poverty as a result of impairment is much greater for the poverty-stricken zones such as in developing countries. The birth of an impaired child, or the occurrence of impairment in the family, often places heavy demands on limited resources and pushes it deeper into poverty. The combined effect of these factors results in a higher proportion of impaired individual among the poorest of society. For this reason, the number of affected families living at the poverty level steadily increases and the negative impact of these trends seriously affects the development process. Impairment can lead to poverty not only for disabled people but also for those who care for them. For example, when services such as education and vocational training are not provided for disabled people, it is more likely that they will fall into the trap of poverty, given their dependency on their families for sustenance and their inability to contribute to the family budget (Jayasooria et al, 1997; Tugnell, 1992).

Based on previous analysis, in developing countries including Jordan, disability can be both a cause of poverty and an outcome of underdeveloped condition. Whether disability is the cause of poverty or its outcome, what is important is the social and economic consequences of poverty on the life of disabled people within underdevelopment context. Figure 1 demonstrates that the cycle of underdevelopment starts as a result of socio-economic poverty and poor conditions leading to malnutrition and sickness, which in turn lead to impairments and disability and contribute to a low life expectancy and low levels of economic production in the community (i.e. unemployment). This will worsen the situation in already underdeveloped countries and could lead to conclude that poverty eradication and economic

development are prerequisites to impairment and disability prevention. However, this model tends to oversimplify the relationship between poverty, disability and employment within an underdeveloped society because it does not consider fully the political, environmental, and cultural factors influencing this process. Poverty, although an important dimensions, is not the sole cause of disability, even within underdeveloped conditions.

FIGURE 1

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POVERTY, DISABILITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT WITHIN UNDERDEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

UNDERDEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

Low Economic Production (unemployment)

Low Socio-economic Level

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Impairments (more illness)

Malnutrition (poor diet)

The mutual relationship between poverty and disability appears thus to be well founded. Poverty is not only an outcome of disability but also an important cause of

impairment as emphasised earlier. Poor people are likely to acquire impairments due to lack of sustenance and lead to disabilities when an individual experiences disabling barriers created by society. It can be concluded that poverty prevention and alleviation is thus one of the most important strategies in any attempt to deal with impairment and disability.

Economic discrimination against disabled people The degree and form of discrimination varies across the world and research shows that such discrimination is one of the major factors in the creation and perpetuation of social and economic problems associated with disability such as poverty, inequality and deprivation (Prescott-Clarck, 1990; Beresford, 1996). In some cases, moreover, discrimination can be compounded rather than alleviated by welfare policies. An example is the way services for disabled people can lead to further segregation and exclusion from the mainstream of society. Analysis of available data shows that a variety of factors discriminate against disabled people across the world. These include education, benefits, health, leisure and social life, information, personal assistance, aids and equipment, transport, built environment and employment.

This discrimination however, may not be a universal situation as there is evidence that in some developing countries, and especially in rural communities, disabled people can and are expected to participate in the economic life of the community. Therefore, it may be argued that disabled people in such countries do not encounter such high levels of discrimination as elsewhere (Albrecht, 1992; Ingstad and Whyte, 1995).

The relationship between the exclusion from labour force (economic discrimination) and disability can be best understood with reference to history. In the West, prior to the industrial revolution, disabled people participated in agricultural production. As industrial revolution proceeded, however, disabled people were excluded from the workplace on the grounds of impairment. In developing countries, a similar exclusion from the labour market occurred, but this change took place during the twentieth century rather than during the nineteenth as in the West. Oliver (1990), Albrecht

(1992) have argued that industrialisation has contributed to more disabled people being excluded. An impairment in Western society for example, such as dyslexia can exclude someone from work but wouldn’t have the same impact in a rural environment.

The importance of work in Western societies is fundamental in terms of the way in which status is conferred. If someone has work, and generates income, then they are more able to support a family. If people are excluded from work because of impairment, this can affect the whole personhood. Thus, impairment is central to the exclusion of disabled people. In developing societies, impairments do not always exclude people from work and attaining status (Albrecht, 1992; Ingstad, 1995). But impaired people can still be excluded from these activities and looked down upon by other members of society. In brief, the social and economic status of people is largely determined by access to the labour market and their earning potential. The exclusion of certain groups from labour market will necessarily lead to locating them in disadvantaged position such as poverty and disability.

A recent ILO report estimates that the level of unemployment worldwide among disabled people is 2 to 3 times as high as for other people. In addition, many work places are inaccessible and unable to accommodate disabled people, both physically and attitudinally, by employers and work fellows (ILO, 1994). Although disabled people often require more finances than non-disabled people in order to maintain an equitable living standard, most have lower incomes. High unemployment among disabled people is a central problem, as income is a key to financial independence as well as a source of satisfaction and self-esteem. In many societies of the majority world countries, work is essential for the individual’s economic and social life. It is central in providing the commodities essential for survival, as well as having an influence on relationships and interactions outside the family. It also provides a sense of identity and self-esteem (UNESCO/DAA, 1995; Brian and Layzell, 1994). Nonetheless, it should be noted that in some societies, paid employment is not always essential as the collective means of production, such as family units, are still common (Albrechet, 1992).

In developing countries the unemployment rate among disabled people is much higher than that of the developed world. For example, in Tunisia 85 per cent of disabled people are unemployed whereas, in Zimbabwe, the rate of unemployment among disabled people reaches 99 per cent (DAA/UNESCO, 1995). The high percentage of unemployed disabled people in these countries means that they are often forced to beg to survive (Coleridge, 1993; DAA/UNESCO, 1995).

Increasing number of unemployed disabled people is not simply due to a lack of skills or qualifications. Research shows that disabled people have better productivity and attendance records than their colleagues both in the UK and USA (Prescott-Clarck, 1990 and Albrecht, 1992). Despite this, only small proportion of disabled population world-wide are being integrated into the economy. This was further perpetuated by the increasing move in responsibility for achieving equal opportunities passed from the state to the individual and free market.

Economic strategies formulated to address disabled people’s needs

Understanding the way poverty, disability and unemployment are constructed is essential to explain the disadvantaged position of disabled people in meeting their economic needs. How these problems are framed will influence the measures taken to eliminate them. Having adopted a social model perspective, disability, poverty and unemployment are viewed as a socially constructed outcome of capitalist development (Oliver, 1990). The implications of this model that disabled people’s needs should be met through policies which focus on restructuring society: especially with an emphasis on the economy, for example through policies of affirmative action including measures to re-shape the labour market.

Various measures may be considered as constituting affirmative action for reducing discrimination against disabled people and enhancing equal opportunities for them in the labour market. This section highlights major policy approaches to dealing with the

economic needs of disabled people including quota and persuasion policies, welfare programmes (i.e. benefits and information), and self-employment via Income Generating Activities (IGA’s).

A common response to dealing with disabled people’s needs is to integrate them into the workforce through various employment schemes. This may include open employment (or what is known as the quota scheme, which sometimes includes financial support for employers to compensate the loss of productivity resulting from employing a disabled person), and sheltered employment. The underlying rationale for these measures is to increase the number of disabled people in employment and encourage employers to recruit them.

Although it is not the most efficient way to deal with this problem, until recently the quota has been the most common approach in employing disabled people (ILO, 1995). It is considered a form of positive discrimination, to the degree that disabled people are employed in preference to able-bodied peers. On the one hand, this provides a short-term solution to the unemployment problem among disabled people. On the other hand, however, it perpetuates discriminatory attitudes towards disabled people. In many developed countries, especially North America and Australia, recent years have witnessed a shift from quota schemes into open employment in the labour market (Thornton and Lunt, 1997).

Welfare Programmes are another means of dealing with disabled people’s needs. Basically, they include benefits that disabled people can claim, and information about their rights and means of access to such services as health, education, and vocational training. In the West, especially in the UK there is special provision for disabled people which entitles them to certain benefits covering the extra cost associated with their impairments and helping break the link between poverty and disability (Walker and Walker, 1991). In many developing countries, however, there is no system of welfare for disabled people to meet their needs. This often perpetuates their financial dependency on their families and relinquishes them to a circle of poverty (Ingstad, 1995; Coleridge, 1993).

Until the introduction of the employment quota scheme in many countries of the majority world, there was neither policies there nor anti-discrimination legislation to help disabled people into work. Provision for disabled people in these countries remain minimal and the few existing schemes are financed by external agencies, mainly international NGO’s, and therefore are lacking the endorsement of the state. This points out the need for other approaches to integrating disabled people into the economy and calls for a greater responsibility of the state.

Iga’s as economic strategy for disabled people in Jordan

Based on the previous analysis, there is little provision made for disabled people in the majority world, which assist them to be economically active. Physical impairment aside, many barriers to open employment continue to exist, including inaccessible transportation and buildings, non-adapted tools, and employers’ prejudice and fears (UNESCO/DAA, 1995). Evidence from Jordan suggests IGA’s3 for self-employment as useful means of integrating disabled people into the economy when other options of employment become difficult for them to get. The exclusion of disabled people from government employment along with the absence of disability welfare system were among reasons for IGA’s becoming viable option for disabled people in Jordan. This section analyzes existing self-employment schemes for disabled people in Jordan as well as credit facilities available for funding such activities.

Economic provisions available for disabled people in Jordan usually takes the from of vocational training, sheltered employment and on occasions self employment schemes through IGA’s. Schemes such as vocational training are seldom relate to the disabled person’s individual needs and regularly fails to take account of existing employment opportunities. All too often disabled people in vocational training centres have a limited choice of trades, and little attention is paid to the likelihood of the successful

³Most self employment schemes for disabled people in Jordan takes the form of income generating activities (IGA’s). Although many disabled people work longer hours in their self run projects, only limited income being generated from such work due to the small size of enterprise and limited market.

use of that trade later on. At the end of a programme, many are left either to face unemployment or with their options limited to employment within sheltered workshops.

Although, recent years have witnessed a shift from sheltered employment to supported provisions in the labour market especially in developed countries (Thornton and Lunt, 1997), this kind of employment is still prevalent in Jordan. These schemes however, offer little integration with non-disabled people. Only a limited range and number of jobs were available to disabled people who were employed in sheltered workshops in Jordan.

Self-employment via IGA’s in Jordan were also limited in number and in their range of activities. They assisted twenty-seven disabled people in running their own business, mainly in trading, manual repair, and crafts. Two people were also doing electronic repair work (Turmusani, 1999).

Despite the majority of disabled women and men studied identified the need for selfemployment as most important to their lives, none said this need had been properly met. This suggests a bleak record of self-employment for disabled people and consequently their desperate need for any kind of income. Although, Walker (1982), and Barnes (1991) argue that self-employment is important for disabled people, especially in a discriminatory society, as it offers a more flexible method of working, self-employment can also be a way of marginalising disabled people from the mainstream of society.

Moreover, those who identified self-employment as a need perceived the meeting of it as an object of charity. The majority position may reflect the fact that the funding for self-employment opportunities in Jordan is mainly provided by international NGO’s and private firms. Therefore, most people, including disabled ones, think of funding as a voluntary action and not a right they are entitled to get from a responsible state. Yet, funding was also restricted to disabled people as illustrated by the remarks of two individuals:

“I have applied for funding to establish my own business, but it has been rejected because my father got a piece of land”. “My

application for funding to expand my business was rejected because my business partner is an able-bodied person”. (Disabled persons who have applied for funding.)

While blind and physically impaired people identified self employment as primary need to their life, deaf people preferred sheltered employment due to unsuccessful experience running their own business. As one deaf man in a sheltered workshop said:

“I had my own business (car mechanic) in the market, but customers and colleagues did not trust my skills and capabilities, therefore I had to close the business down and come back to a sheltered workshop”. Disabled women in general even when being highly educated (i.e. blind women) preferred to have their own businesses at home due to restricted attitudes towards working women. Disabled women studied felt isolated from social and economic life. Women are often expected and encouraged to be dependent on family members in the male dominated Jordanian society. Constraints exist to limit the social activities of many women, and this situation may be further compounded when a woman is disabled.

Disabled people have identified their need for other kinds of employment though including government and private employment sheltered employment and cooperative employment. They also identified other needs related to self-employment such as accessible transportation and housing system as a precondition for financial independence for those with severe mobility problems. One view expressed follow:

“You can’t set up your own business independently or in fact do any outdoors activities without reasonable mobility such as accessible buses, traffic lights, etc.”. (Physically disabled man).

This exclusion of disabled people from remunerated employment in Jordan led disabled people suffering from obvious social and economic deprivation and their needs being unmet due to lacking source of income. Hence, their financial dependency on others has been further perpetuated and their ability to pursue plans to establish a family, continue education or even to be socially mobile has been restricted. Married disabled people were concerned about their ability to provide necessities for their own family (i.e. food, shelter, etc.). As a married man with visual impairment said:

“ I’m not so concerned about myself, but worried about my kids who will not survive if there is no income to satisfy their basic needs”.

It is not surprising therefore, that disabled people emphasised the urgent need for a change in the current general public/employer’s attitudes towards their abilities. They explained that their need for positive public attitudes was in regard to personal mobility and ability to compete in the labour market. At the same time, they complained about employers and peers’ negative attitudes regarding their skills and capabilities. The following are some quotations from various disabled people, both women and men, concerning the pressing need for a positive change in attitudes towards disabled people.

“I went for an interview and on my way, the taxi driver pitied me and wondered how can I manage to move around while I’m a blind female. He even advised me to stay at home. The result of the interview, however, was not better since the headmaster could not believe I can manage to teach kids a subject of my speciality”. (Blind woman).

“I looked once for a job as a hairdresser. The woman could not understand my broken language (deaf) and offered me money to go away” (Deaf women).

“I worked for a while in a factory but had many problems with my colleagues and therefore, my employer described me as a trouble maker and sacked me”. (Physically impaired man).

Where employment opportunities for disabled people are limited, funding for IGA’s becomes especially important. Generally speaking obtaining credit for small scale businesses in developing countries proved to be problematic for the poor and those who don’t have collateral including disabled people. Existing credit funding facilities in developing countries (Thomas, 2000) exclude disabled people as potential clients as they are designed to meet the needs of able-bodied people and not specifically those with impairments. In Bangladesh for example, members of credit groups often exclude disabled people from receiving loans, as they perceive them unable to pay back and therefore as potential risk (Coleridge, 2000).

In Jordan, disabled people have equally identified accessible credit funding facility as well as marketing as needs, which are directly related to their self-employment

prospects. For the majority of people with impairments who wish to run their own businesses, becoming self employed is largely dependent on their ability to access credit. It was only until early 1990’s however, that some NGO’s started providing funding schemes for small businesses in Jordan. By the end of 1998, they provided credit for 577 small businesses 27 of which were set up by disabled people as indicated previously. This is in addition to 169 small businesses established by government community centres. As expected in a male dominant society, more than 70 % of funded projects were allocated to men. This is despite the fact that much of the actual labour required to run these projects is provided by women at home.

Those disabled people who succeed to get credit reported various problems relating to setting up flexible lending policies relating to collateral, the size of loans, repayment schedules and more importantly marketing problems. More specifically, disabled women reported that their ability to run the business is often determined by the division of labour within their household and the amount of work they are required to do on everyday basis such as child rearing and house keeping. Moreover, culture and traditions related to Islamic perception of women as “awra” ⁴and as less than a man has affected women’s ability to make their own choices and limited their mobility and independence. Such traditions and customs inhibit women’s ability to borrow. In some rural areas women are asked their husband or their guardians consent before allowed to receive credit (Turmusani, 2001).

Previous analysis shows that although self-employment schemes through IGA’s were important strategies for fighting poverty, these had limited impact on improving the social and economic condition of disabled people and their families. This suggests the need for going beyond the labour market into changing attitudes and perceptions towards disabled people’s abilities in general. Yet, it does not neglect the importance of restructuring social policies and the economy in the quest for fighting poverty and its consequences among disabled people.

⁴This means that a women’s body and face must not be exposed to public view. This was in fact main reason behind a tradition of women in Islam wearing dress covering all their body with head cover which is known as Hijab.

Concluding remarks

At present, little is known on the relationship between poverty, and unemployment of disabled people especially in under-resourced countries. Materialists analysis on disability and social exclusion has been used in this account which contextualises concerns about disability in capitalist production. While capital and class play significant role in social relations concerning disabled people, social organisation is more complex and includes other issues such as gender, race, sexuality, religion, etc.

Analysis shows that disabled people are denied equal opportunities to compete in the labour market and thus lacking a source of income necessary to meeting their needs. Different approaches to dealing with disabled people’s needs have been mentioned, including quota system, welfare services, and self-employment. Self-employment schemes through IGA’s were discussed as a potential mechanism in fighting poverty among disabled people. In Jordan as elsewhere in developing countries, this kind of employment may have potential for integrating disabled people into the economy.

Limited employment options for disabled people and the low income they receive when in employment makes it difficult for them to meet their basic needs, let alone to achieve the same level of living as other people. Ultimately, this increases the number of disabled people who are poor and strengthens the link between poverty and disability. Such failure to meet economic needs was mainly attributed by disabled men in Jordan for example, to limited sources of income linked with a lack of job opportunities. Disabled women tended to report lack of access to services in the community and difficulties in receiving support from their families.

This account concludes by emphasising the need for tackling poverty and unemployment as important roots to overcoming problems related to disability. On a larger scale, approaches to dealing with developmental issues such as poverty, disability and employment should also change from traditional to user led perspective in accordance with the social view. Here disabled people are involved in control of the whole business

of development to a large extent and their potential is allowed to be developed to an optimum level that secures their struggle for independent life.

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Main	Programme	Materials	Online	Lanzhou

	UN ESCAP/CDPF Field Study cum Regional Workshop on Poverty Alleviation among Persons with Disabilities Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China, 25-29 October 2004