The Durban North Academy recently assisted the HEARD – UKZN team with a pilot study, led by Dr Jill Hanass-Hancock on the financial and economic costs of disability to households. This study had been commissioned by UNICEF in cooperation with the Department of Women Children and People with Disabilities (now moved to Social Development). It aims to address the economic and financial vulnerability of people with disabilities.

It is hoped that the results of this study will identify the disability-related costs to households in relation to access to place of work, health and education in order to inform the South African government how better to budget for disability in the future.

Extract from an Article by Dr Jill Hanass-Hancock and Prof Jim Whiteman

Time to Bring People with Disabilities into Development

“In order to move forward we need more and better disability-related data and evidence that will complement and support our efforts to ensure the rights of all disabled people. This includes not only the causes and prevalence of disability in a given population, we also need to understand the full extent of the livelihood challenges they present; to find new entry points for interventions; to engage the potential of people with disabilities; and to understand the economic dimensions of disability. In resource-poor settings this may require a shift of thinking away from the medicalization of disease management towards a more holistic model of care that includes care and rehabilitation beyond the acute or routine management phases of a disease or disorder.”

Reference:http://www.heard.org.za/

Natascha McAllister
Operations Manager – KZN