Integration of the Disabled into National Development: a Participatory Approach

Abstract

National development calls for the involvement of all segments of society into an integrative scheme that allows room for participation by all and sundry in society irrespective of the perceived degree of one’s ability or disability. This paper seeks to examine the issue of all-inclusiveness in national development, pointing out the need to give special attention to persons with disabilityto enable them participate in national development in view of the false sense of participation, or non-participation,in national programmes, as depicted by Hart (1992) in his concept of Ladder of Participation.