Poverty, disability and education : debating inclusivity in the majority world

Abstract

Around 600 million people are disabled globally, and some 80% of these are said to live in the so-called majority world, often in disproportionate levels of a multidimensional poverty, impacting socio-economic spheres including education. While the subject of disability in the majority world has gained some momentum, notably through the international development sector, the debate remains embryonic. Furthermore, concerns related to broader poverty, neoliberalism and its historical antecedents, and the social, economic, cultural and political contexts of a post/neocolonial global South, remain subsumed under or reframed through Western discourses (e.g. disability and development studies). In light of this, this chapter seeks to discuss issues around disability and poverty in the so-called majority world, in an effort to outline and discuss critical concerns around education in neoliberal times, and the implications for inclusive education in the global South.