Ethiopia And Eritrea

Attitude to disability

Generally, disability is strongly stigmatised in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Those with impairments are commonly rejected or banished by the community, children are taunted at school and grow up believing that they are 'faulty'; they often end up as beggars. The attitudes are partly due to religious and cultural beliefs and partly to the challenges of living in poverty: scarce resources need to be allocated to children who are more likely to become economically viable. Most Ethiopians and Eritreans live below the poverty line, with Eritrea the poorest country in Africa and having an extremely under-equipped health infrastructure.

Families who are observant Christians or Muslims may have different attitudes to disability. As in most cases around the globe, people in rural areas usually hold more traditional beliefs than those in cities, and at the same time are more tolerant.

Differentiation is made between physical impairments and intellectual with the latter and other conditions like asthma not recognised or defined as disability in the communities. Sometimes even obvious disabilities in rural communities are not labelled as 'disability'. A man whose father had no arm responded 'no' to the question of whether he knew anyone with a disability (Shaw & Hughes, 2010). This might be attributed to an accepting attitude, or it might reflect a lack of familiarity with the concept of disability.

In the large cities there are a few programmes in hospitals providing services and education about disability and people's prospects are gradually improving.

Beliefs about causes

It is believed that families with disabled children are punished by the local witchdoctor, or ancestral spirits, or the child is born evil or the family is being punished by God. Because of the stigmatisation some families consider their disabled a burden, some are kept at home to protect the family from ostracisation while others are looked after with loving care, albeit in concealment. Differences are often driven by circumstances within a myriad of possible attitudes and beliefs.

In countries of re-settlement stigmatisation is reduced as people are influenced by local attitudes and health services. However, lack of familiarity with health services will make accessibility difficult.