Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
there is no specific mention of persons with disabilities in the MDGs,
or in the policies or guidance in meeting the targets.
Sociocultural Understandings of
Disability, Health and Illness
Holistic development approaches that aim to enhance human capacities
and well-being have been influenced by disability politics and social
theories of the body, health and disability that developed from the 1970s
onwards. Geographers and other social scientists have revealed how
understandings of bodies, health and illness vary according to the eco-
nomic, geo-political, sociocultural and spatial context (Longhurst, 2005).
Although social research on disability and illness has been largely
dominated by urban, Anglophone and Western-centric concerns to date,
the need to investigate the interconnections between sociocultural rep-
resentations of health, illness and disability and development processes
at both a local and global scale has been increasingly recognized (Power,
2001; Somma and Bodiang, 2004; McEwan and Butler, 2007).
Research has revealed that understandings of disability and ill-
ness vary significantly across cultures and across time. While most
cultures ascribe to notions of a 'normal' or 'ideal' body or mind, the
meanings attached to different illnesses and impairments and the
social responses that are deemed appropriate are not universal. In
many sub-Saharan African countries, disability in children is associ-
ated with maternal wrongdoing and witchcraft, and in the contexts of
poverty, negative cultural attitudes and a lack of support, families may
'hide' or abandon disabled children who are considered 'abnormal'
(Kabzems and Chimedza, 2002). However, impairment does not always
lead to exclusion and research has shown how many individuals are
supported and included within their families and communities (Barnes
and Mercer, 2003; Braathen and Kvam, 2008).
The importance of understanding the cultural beliefs and meanings
associated with particular illnesses and impairments, alongside the
social hierarchies that influence vulnerabilities to ill health and the
broader geo-political context, is clearly evident when analysing HIV
interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the disease was first recog-
nized in the 1980s, Southern Africa has been the region most affected
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