Disability and poverty: a global challenge

This book is about being disabled and being poor and the social, cultural, and political processes that link these two aspects of living in what has been characterised as a ‘vicious circle’. It is also about the strengths that people show when living with disability and being poor: how they try to overcome their problems and make the best out of what little they have. The book aims to provide cross-cultural perspectives on the situation of living with a disability and being poor. This chapter discusses disability and poverty; poverty dimensions such as absolute poverty and relative poverty; the disability concept; the vicious circle of disability and poverty; overcoming poverty for people with disability with opportunity, empowerment, and security; and research on poverty and disability.