Exclusion of People with Disabilities in Public Service Provision: The Case of Wolkite Town, Guraghe Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia disabled people are among the most disadvantaged and most vulnerable groups of the society. They have been not only unable to participate in national developments efforts but also are not the beneficiaries of the results. The major concern of this study was to identify the causes of exclusion for disabled people in public sector service provision and to identify the major challenges of mainstreaming disability in development programs. For the purpose of the study primary data were collected from disabled sample individuals and concerned organizations. A total of 86 individuals were selected randomly from the total disabled population in the town and descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the data. The result of the study revealed that absence of the services designed for those people, economic problems and discrimination are major causes of exclusion. Moreover lack of political commitment; the attitude of the society towards disability; resource limitation; and invisibility of the issue are the challenges of mainstreaming disability in Wolkite town. Awareness creations, political commitment, enforcement of laws, mobilizing resources are important to mainstream disability.

Keywords:  Disability, Exclusion, Mainstreaming