‘We do not have chiefs who are disabled’: disability, development and culture in a continuing complex emergency

AbstractIn 2011 The World Health Organization declared disability an international development priority. Yet disability and disabled people are barely visible in the Millennium Development Goals. Exploring disabled people's involvement in development processes in Binga District, Zimbabwe, this article: illuminates the impact of cultural beliefs about disability that systematically exclude disabled people from development initiatives; assesses the strengths and limitations of the capability approach for theorising disability; and considers the role of (u)buntu, a philosophy based on human relatedness and interdependence, in promoting justice for disabled people in sub-Saharan Africa.