Why disability inclusion must be built in by design, not bolted on

The latest lessons to come out of the Inclusive Futures programme (UK aid’s flagship disability inclusion initiative) will not come as a surprise to many of us who work in the disability inclusive development space. And yet, the messages are powerful and timely.

The Inclusive Futures programme was delivered over eight years by a consortium led by Sightsavers and the International Disability Alliance. Working across Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, the programme has partnered with more than 200 organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) as well as governments, INGOs, research institutions and private-sector organisations.

Reflecting on Inclusive Futures’ new learning paper, What we have learned about disability inclusive programming, I have been struck not necessarily by the technical details but by how well the lessons have been articulated and evidenced. This learning paper makes clear the gaps between making a commitment to inclusion and generating real results for people with disabilities. And it serves as a strong reminder of how important it is to carry through our intentions when it comes to disability inclusion.

The scale of the issue

We are reminded that a great deal of ableism remains at the core of international development, and with that comes a critical lack of attention to disability inclusion.

More than 16% of the world’s population is directly impacted by disability – that’s roughly equivalent to the populations of India or China. Yet programmes designed to reduce poverty, improve health and build resilient communities routinely ignore how best to include women, men, girls and boys with disabilities.

Only 7.2% of all the money governments around the world spent on Official Development Assistance between 2018 and 2022 was disability inclusive. And the situation is getting worse. Overall, international development budgets are shrinking as funds get redirected towards security and defence. This means an already small percentage of funding for disability is being further reduced.

Why this learning paper matters

Inclusive Futures’ new learning paper distils over eight years of practical experience and insight from 11 consortium members, which initially had varying levels of familiarity in delivering disability inclusive programming. It speaks with a refreshing level of honesty, which is much needed in the development sector. Having accompanied the programme from its inception, albeit as a somewhat remote technical advisor, I can appreciate how much of the learning discussed in the paper resulted from responses to implementation challenges.

Inclusion by design, right from the start

One of the learning paper’s major takeaways is the importance of doing things well from the start to avoid perpetuating the exclusion and inequalities people with disabilities experience.

Retrofitting disability inclusion into programmes is inefficient and unsatisfactory for people with disabilities. A key learning from Inclusive Futures that resonated for me in this respect is the need to make disability inclusion an explicit commitment right across an organisation, beyond the work of specific projects. That means looking at organisational policies and practices and how well they are set up to include people with disabilities as employees, implementing partners, volunteers and programme participants.

Commit to implement

A statement of commitment to disability inclusion is one thing, but if we are going to make a real difference in outcomes for people with disabilities, concrete mechanisms must be in place to ensure inclusion can happen. This learning paper covers many of these mechanisms in detail, including how to develop appropriate levels of financing, how to best utilise diverse technical expertise that puts lived experience at the centre of decision making and how to learn and respond in real time to implementation challenges.

For me, one of the standout recommendations is the need for reasonable accommodation to become a core practice across all projects and programmes. Yes, this is about making budget available to hire accessible venues, provide accessible communications and produce reports and materials in alternative formats. But it’s also about so much more. It is about ensuring reasonable accommodation is available to anyone participating in the programme. This means having the mechanisms in place so that any person with a disability can request the support they require to take part in, and carry out, programme activities.

Learn as you go

Adaptive management was a core feature of Inclusive Futures from the beginning, and with the support of the FCDO the consortium invested time and skills in learning from people in the communities being supported. The consortium learnt a lot about changing organisational cultures and addressing ableism, for example, which is relevant to all programmes. It stopped simply consulting OPDs and disability activists and began working collaboratively with them, from design through to evaluation.

The disability movement is rich in experiences, but sometimes larger, urban-based OPDs dominate conversations. Inclusive Futures recognised this too. It engaged a broader and more diverse range of representative organisations, bringing them into decision-making positions so their priorities became the focus.

Inclusive Futures mentions how relatively unprepared it was as a consortium to respond to the experiences of women and girls with disabilities. How it should have thought about the impact of gender more explicitly from the start and came to the issue later than was ideal. This great lesson highlights the importance of considering the intersectional nature of people’s lived experiences. More opportunities to support collaborations between movements, and less identity-specific targeting of programmes, are essential in the current climate to avoid competing in an ever-shrinking civic space.

Transforming organisations

I have seen firsthand how mainstream consortium partners like Social Development Direct have learned by being part of Inclusive Futures. This organisation has transformed its operational practices and invested in skills development to become much more disability inclusive.

There is a lot of practical learning from this programme which goes well beyond what’s included in this learning paper. All these lessons will have a lasting impact if others follow where Inclusive Futures consortium partners have led.