The cycle of disability and poverty

This post is part of Blog Action Day-where thousands of bloggers unite for one day to talk about the same topic-poverty. Originally printed here on Disaboom, but I’m not able to link up that post with the worldwide effort so it’s here too!

The word POVERTY is a strong, emotionally-laden term that almost instantaneously triggers thoughts for people. The first of which being MONEY. It seems logical that the most direct solution to the hardship faced by people struggling with poverty would be funding. Poverty can lead to homelessness, poor healthcare, few educational opportunities, and a general hunger for resources. All of this could be remedied with money, right?

I don’t think so.

Poverty is rooted much deeper than a superficial lack of funds. More than money-the solution is linked to a word that we’re all too familiar with-ACCESS. Oppression and discrimination limits the access of certain groups of people to the resources that give individuals and entire families an opportunity to claw their way out of the depths of poverty. Consider this:

‘Poverty is not simply the consequence of a lack of resources. Some people are
unable to access existing resources because of who they are what they believe or
where they live. Such discrimination is a form of exclusion and a cause of
poverty’. Source

[Photo source: Child with leg deformity holds out bucket begging for money on a street in China.]

From this perspective, no amount of money would remedy the world’s poverty. Over time, the original ca use of poverty (exclusion, discrimination, and oppression) would reinstate the boundaries of access to encompass the privileged few and leave the rest to struggle. It’s not our imagination that people with disabilities seem to be especially heavily impacted by poverty. Poverty can cause disability and then it can make disabilities worse (or cause secondary disabilities) as a consequence of poor living conditions. It’s a vicious and depressing cycle.

I believe there is a solution. Helen Lee has said it well:

‘Because disability and poverty are inextricably linked, poverty can never be
eradicated until disabled people enjoy equal rights with non-disabled people’.

 

The key to unlocking the confines of poverty won’t be found in the economy (thank goodness) but in the structure of our society and the way we treat our people. Poverty is a worldwide problem and it can seem so enormous that another word comes to mind-hopeless. Thinking about poverty as part of a cycle can change that perspective. We don’t need an enormous heap of money to make a difference. Everyday people can and have made a difference in obtaining equal rights. The effect of recognizing and combating discrimination will have ripple effects that brings a new word association to poverty: HOPE.

[Photo caption: Young girl sits on back of makeshift bicycle/wheelchair that an adult is driving on a dirt road.]