Globally, people with disabilities make up approximately 15% of the world’s population, with 80% residing in low- and middle-income countries. In many of these contexts, disability and poverty are a consistent cycle, and people with disabilities face significant barriers in accessing their basic needs due to lack of inclusive services, inadequate accessibility standards, and pervasive societal discrimination. Despite the challenges that they face, roughly only 2.5 percent of international development aid targets people with disabilities.

In this episode, Disability Inclusive Development, host Kendra Heney is joined by four incredible guests from Canada, Malawi, Uganda, and Kenya to highlight some of the adversities people with disabilities in East Africa face including traditional attitudes, stigma, lack of access, and lack of enforcement of global and national policy. The take-away message is that we cannot leave anyone behind in international development; people with disabilities must be included in all conversations and program areas.

Meet the Speakers:

Catherine Cameron is the Director of International Programs at Hope and Healing International. With over 15 years in international development, she has worked with notable organizations including the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation at University of Toronto, where she supported education and research activities across nine country groups, many in Africa.

James Chidzanja is a Library Assistant with Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA). He has also worked with the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi (FEDOMA) as a Voluntary District Coordinator. James also participated in a survey conducted by the Centre for Social Research in partnership with MACOHA, Hope and Healing International, University of Toronto and the International Centre for Disability Rehabilitation.

Puwata Deogratias is currently pursuing a Masters of Disability Studies and Inclusive Development at Kyambogo University. Puwata is the Founder and Executive Director of Kalangala Home for Children with Special Needs, a demo home for children and advocacy centre on the island district of Kalangala and Entebbe. Living with a physical disability himself, he dreams of being an international advocate for the rights and inclusion of people with disabilities.  

Livingstone Koech is the Patient Relations Officer at AIC Cure Kenya, an orthopedic children’s hospital located in Kijabe, Kenya. His commitment is finding children living with disabilities across Kenya and connecting them to life changing medical care. Livingstone holds a Bachelors of arts in community development from St Paul’s University, as well as a diploma in healthcare management from Kenya Institute of Management.

About the Podcast:

Through the third season of the Tapestry 2030 Podcast: Global Voices, a few members of the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) Youth Policy-Makers Hub (YPH) are aiming to amplify key global issues from the perspective of voices often unheard or excluded from policy and international development conversations. 

Learn more about the work of OCIC.