Disability, poverty and development: critical reflections on the majority world debate

Beyond rough estimates, little is known about disability in the majority world and complexities related to context and poverty are too often unacknowledged in the quest to simplify, generalise and export disability discourse, models and strategies. Disability remains peripheral to the larger development agenda and the disability studies debate maintains an almost exclusive focus on western settings, loaded with associated historical, social and cultural assumptions. In the light of this, this paper seeks to elucidate and engage with complex issues surrounding the disability and majority world debate, critique and challenge the exportation of western focused disability models and discourse and engage with possible avenues for bridging the gap between disability and development.