The Disability sector is concerned with the rights of people with disability. The sector’s focus revolves around improving and promoting the welfare of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities make up an estimated 15 percent of the world’s population and 10 percent of the Zimbabwean populace. Almost one-fifth of the estimated global total of persons with disabilities, or between 110-190 million, encounter significant difficulties. People with disabilities are severely excluded from all areas of society there is not even comparable or reliable data on incidence, distribution, and trends of disability, let alone the extent of poverty of people with disability. Persons with disabilities encounter many disadvantages in their societies and are often subjected to stigma and discrimination, often getting last access to food and other basic resources.
Observations have shown often when people with disabilities get ill they are not given treatment but left to the “hand of God”. They are less likely to be sent to school (even if physically possible), for fear that they will not cope; that their disclosure will stigmatise the family and affect the marriage prospects of siblings; or that they are not a worthwhile investment and others should get priority. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is both a human rights treaty and a development tool, provides an opportunity to strengthen developmental policies related to the implementation of internationally agreed development goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby contributing to the realisation of a “society for all” in the twenty-first century.
