True empowerment

Of Sri Lanka’s total population aged five years and over, which is roughly about 18.6 million, an estimated 8.7% have at least one type of disability and of this 57% are women. The highest proportion of disability is related to vision impairment and many forgo education due to a variety of reasons. In 2012, 95.9% or over 1.5 million differently-abled people had not engaged in any kind of educational activity, which underscores the desperate need to have more inclusive education and employment opportunities.

In Sri Lanka the social and economic welfare of differently abled people has gained increased policy attention with surveys that could feed into programme development being conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (DCS), Social Welfare Ministry and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). However, the information available is insufficient to make proper assessments and create effective programmes, points out a new report released by the United Nations Population Fund titled ‘20.4 million; Sri Lanka’s population at a glance’.

While Government agencies and NGOs continue to administer programmes to help the differently-abled, there is lack of regular research and data collection strategies to enable the creation of more effective policies and programmes. Better data collection is an immediate need for policy making regarding the differently-abled. For example, the latest study done on preventable blindness in children was in the 1990s and showed 17% of child blindness could be prevented. This is one of several key areas which can be identified as needing additional attention. Preventable forms of disability such as preventable blindness, better access to education, and vocational training for the differently-abled all require stronger policies and resources.

Dependency among the differently-abled also has a gendered dimension. Women with disability are less likely to be employed than men, despite being a higher percentage of the total differently-abled population. There are virtually no special facilities in schools for differently-abled children in many parts of the country. Most rural children have to walk several miles to school, which means that differently-abled students have to depend on an adult to take them to school. This creates a serious gap in education attainment between the differently-abled and average citizen that can entrench dependency.

The percentage of differently-abled women not engaged in any kind of educational activities was higher for females at 57.4% and the number drops significantly after school in all categories. Only 2,142 differently-abled students attended pre-school but the number jumped to 54,311 in primary and secondary school. But this number slips to just 2,076 at university level with other education training being largely limited. According to the 2014 data released by the Census and Statistics Department this accounts for less than 5% of the total differently-abled population. 

Self-employment remains the largest outlet for differently-abled people at 32% but this is overwhelmingly limited to men and persons under the age of 35. Many older differently-abled people struggle with access and even the Government employs 34% of men but only 13% of women. Only in the private sector is this reversed with 25% of women and only 9% of men. Given that these statistics were compiled in 2003 the ratios could well have changed but it still underscores the need for Sri Lanka to make data-based policies that can make the lives of thousands better.