The social model of disability, which provides the ideological basis for the recent UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, emphasizes the need for
society to change, in order to remove all forms of disability discrimination and allow
for full participation. However, literature debates have raised questions over the
relevance of this ideology to the majority world context. This thesis aims to explore
this dilemma, by examining the influence of the social model on a range of current
approaches to promoting economic empowerment within Kenya and India - two
countries that have signed and ratified the Convention.
The methodology is based on a comparative analysis of 26 case studies, conducted
between June 2010 and February 2011, which were focused mainly on three particular
routes to economic empowerment: vocational training, formal sector employment and
self-directed employment.
The study concludes that, while inclusive strategies that were firmly based on social
model principles tended to be among the most successful, a total reliance on this
ideology would run the risk of excluding a large section of the disability population
altogether. In particular, some of the segregated services were found to be continuing
to play an important role in disability service provision.