Poverty and Disability: The Endless Loop

[Excerpt] Disability is a critical dimension of poverty in developing countries because poverty contributes to disability and disability leads to poverty. Poverty alleviation measures are unlikely to help poor disabled people who are insulated from information and isolated from opportunities and services by a de facto apartheid enforced by informational, physical and social obstacles. To be fully effective, poverty programs must take disability explicitly into account. The World Bank has noted that without paying attention to the rights and needs of people with disabilities (PWDs), Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be achieved