There are more than 600 million people with disabilities worldwide and 180 million are children, 400 million live in developing countries and 80 million in Africa. The World Health Organisation (2002) reported that about 40 per cent of Africa’s population consists of people with disabilities, including 10-15% of school age children. This percentage translates to about 300 million people with disabilities in Africa. Burton (1996) notes that people with disabilities have been treated like outcasts for over 100 years and whatever attention is drawn to them, it is only with sympathy and pity. Disability has been presented as a culturally embedded socially accepted form of oppression against people with disabilities. To date some community members still encounter difficulties in accepting people with disabilities. It is against this background that this paper seeks to examine the situation of people with disabilities in Lesotho. The paper also highlights the roles of social workers in dealing with people with disabilities. It should be mentioned at the outset that this paper is mainly a review of the literature of people with disabilities in Lesotho and it also includes interviews with people working with PWDs in the country. For purposes of this paper, the Word Health Organisation (WHO)’s definition of disability is adopted. The WHO (2002) defines disability as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in the body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action while participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Therefore, disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person body and features of the society in which he/he she lives. A disability may occur during a person’s lifetime or may be present from birth.
There are more than 600 million people with disabilities worldwide and 180 million are children, 400 million live in developing countries and 80 million in Africa. The World Health Organisation (2002) reported that about 40 per cent of Africa’s population consists of people with disabilities, including 10-15% of school age children. This percentage translates to about 300 million people with disabilities in Africa. Burton (1996) notes that people with disabilities have been treated like outcasts for over 100 years and whatever attention is drawn to them, it is only with sympathy and pity. Disability has been presented as a culturally embedded socially accepted form of oppression against people with disabilities. To date some community members still encounter difficulties in accepting people with disabilities. It is against this background that this paper seeks to examine the situation of people with disabilities in Lesotho. The paper also highlights the roles of social workers in dealing with people with disabilities. It should be mentioned at the outset that this paper is mainly a review of the literature of people with disabilities in Lesotho and it also includes interviews with people working with PWDs in the country. For purposes of this paper, the Word Health Organisation (WHO)’s definition of disability is adopted. The WHO (2002) defines disability as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in the body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action while participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. Therefore, disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person body and features of the society in which he/he she lives. A disability may occur during a person’s lifetime or may be present from birth.
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