Disability and Social Exclusion in Somalia. Written by. Mohamed Farah

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, 10% of the world’s population is composed of disabled people, but it is unknown how many Somali are affected as reliable data is difficult to compile due to decades of conflict. A 2011 report titled ‘Disability Rights in Somalia’ released by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency confirms that the number of disabilities in Somalia increases by 20 people daily, and suggests 12-15% of the population are disabled even though there is no real statistics in Somalia.

People with disabilities in Somalia are undoubtedly among the most vulnerable at risk of social exclusion, as this valuable article clearly shows. Poverty and social exclusion are inextricably linked, and a major cause of poverty is the lack of employment. For people with disabilities, the situation with regard to employment is far from ideal. On average, the participation rate of severely disabled people in the workforce is less than half that of able-bodied workers. Efforts have been made in Somali government to improve the participation rate but the obstacles to gaining – and retaining -employment, such as lack of access to education and to vocational training, limited availability of housing, assistive technology, and accessible transport are still significant Full article click this link