Including Disabled People in Development (Wales Report by DWA)

Executive summary

The involvement of disabled people in the Wales-Africa sector has been the focus of a partnership project between Disability in Wales and Africa, Hub Cymru Africa and Disability Wales. Using mixed methods of surveys and interviews with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and Wales-Africa organisations, this research set out to establish current practices and aspirations for increasing the involvement of disabled people in the Wales-Africa sector. This report highlights a number of challenges and offers some solutions for improving inclusion of disabled people.

Historically, the voices of disabled people have been missing from the development agenda, despite being key target beneficiaries of efforts to reduce poverty and social injustice. Whilst there have been clear efforts within Wales to increase the activity of disabled people, progress has been limited.

The low engagement rate of disabled people with the research reinforced the existing observation that the work of Wales-Africa organisations is not high on the radar for disabled people or their organisations. The findings suggested many disabled people in Wales feel it is difficult enough to secure their basic rights and access support in their day to day lives such that they prioritised local issues over international ones.

The challenges of involving disabled people are by no means unique to the Wales-Africa sector. However, many disabled people who did engage with the research are already active volunteers in their local communities, seeking out opportunities to make a difference. They frequently used their lived experience as disabled people to contribute to furthering disability equality in Wales.

Disabled people expressing an interest in Wales-Africa work identified the importance of knowing what opportunities exist for their involvement, feeling welcome and making a meaningful contribution. People could also be encouraged by knowing that efforts would be made to understand and address concerns regarding accessibility and inclusion.

Additionally, people were aware that their limited understanding of cultural and practical differences between the lives of disabled people in Wales and Africa, meant that it was important that African disabled people were involved in setting the priorities of any work designed to benefit them.

Wales-Africa organisations demonstrated a desire to be inclusive and recognised that different perspectives bring value to their work.

However, many organisations are very small and not seeking to expand or are restricted by limited resources, capacity and work spaces. The lack of robust equalities data collection also poses a challenge to monitoring any efforts to improve inclusion.

There are some straightforward actions that development organisations can take forward to communicate their work and welcome the inclusion of disabled people. Showing how disabled people are already involved and making a contribution and offering opportunities to exchange knowledge and show solidarity would break down stereotypes and encourage involvement.

The partner organisations who instigated this research can also play a role in supporting organisations to improve how they involve disabled people, through the provision of appropriate resources and training.