Building a Movement to Empower Disabled Community Members in Pakistan
by Mazhar Hanif, Yaushva Rafaqat (Help Relay Foundation), Kiran Shahzadi (Help Relay Foundation), and Manzoor Cheema (Local to Global Human Development) Background: Human Rights Watch estimates that as much as 11% of Pakistanis (or 27 million people ) have some form of disability (or differently abled). Disabled community members in Pakistan face many challenges, ranging from lack of adequate infrastructure, facilities, and services that will allow them to live a fulfilling life. On top, working class disabled community members face challenges of poverty and marginalization from society. As a consequence, many people facing mobility impairments or even mental health crises are relegated to street begging for their survival. The movement for the rights for the disabled is nascent and not as developed in Pakistan as in many industrialized/OECD countries. The state spends minuscule resources for the basic rights (mobility access, livable jobs, equal opportunity legislation, etc.). On top,...