Mediating disability and environmental change: capability analysis of disabled people exposed to drought and flood conditions in East Africa

随着气候变化增加干旱的频率和严重程度，由此产生的影响将更加严重和持久。东非干旱对人类造成的后果已经很严重：营养不良加剧，疾病风险增加，受教育机会减少。然而，干旱与贫困之间关系的确切性质仍然既复杂又具有挑战性。在这种情况下，残疾人面临的风险最大，因为他们更容易陷入贫困。由于缺乏专门认识到残疾人状况的信息，他们在救灾工作中的参与不足，以及他们面临的日常无障碍问题，使他们受到干旱不利影响的情况更加复杂，本研究项目针对这一问题缺乏信息和知识的情况，对残疾人的状况和现实进行了反思。它通过探讨信仰、态度、禁忌、习俗和法律（机构）如何塑造选择从事有价值活动的能力和自由（能力），以创造或限制对干旱的有效应对。该项目借鉴了残疾的社会模式，该模式认为，社会及其对残疾人的反应造成了残疾。这一观点为研究残疾存在的社会背景奠定了基础。对这一背景以及规范、规则和禁忌的分析受到批判制度主义的启发，批判制度主义承认，没有一套规则决定生活和社会的治理方式，而是一套不同的制度，它们相互作用，既像法律一样被正式颁布，也像规范一样被非正式遵守。最后，Amartya Sen和Martha Nussbaum关于作为“自由和选择领域”的能力的工作，使人们有机会以一种不依赖于经济分析和外部分类的方式来评估贫穷。这是一种赋权的观点，使个人能够自行决定他们的价值以及他们实现这一价值的难易程度，还使人们能够影响和决定研究议程和关键问题，这些理论将为“机构如何塑造残疾人的能力及其应对极端干旱条件的能力？“这项研究将采用混合方法的案例研究设计，以埃塞俄比亚和乌干达为案例，探讨这三个关键现象之间的关系。比较案例研究的设计将使研究能够考虑一系列体制因素的影响，包括埃塞俄比亚和乌干达对残疾问题的不同立法和政治反应。定性数据将通过对埃塞俄比亚迪雷达瓦和乌干达姆巴莱残疾人组织成员的半结构式访谈收集，以探讨干旱、洪水和其他环境冲击对残疾人的影响。将在埃塞俄比亚和乌干达与国家一级的利益攸关方和行为体进行一系列关键的知情人访谈，以探讨影响环境变化和冲击如何影响残疾人的不同因素、能力和机构。对数据的分析将研究残疾人的机构、习俗、规范和社会背景如何调节他们对气候变化的脆弱性并影响他们的复原力。将对埃塞俄比亚社会经济调查和乌干达国家小组调查进行统计分析，以检验是否可以推断出多层面贫困与能力、残疾和气候变化之间在统计上的重要关系，并检验这些离散变量之间的关系是否表明存在任何因果关系。

As climate change increases the frequency and severity of droughts the resulting impacts will be more severe and prolonged. The human consequences of droughts in East Africa are already significant; increasing malnutrition, heightening the risk of disease, and reducing opportunities for education. However, the precise nature of the relationship between droughts and poverty remains both complex and challenging. Within this context, disabled people are at the greatest risk as they are considerably more vulnerable to poverty. Their exposure to the adverse effects of droughts is complicated by a lack of information that specifically recognises disabled peoples' situation, their poor participation in disaster relief efforts, and the everyday issues around accessibility they confront.This research project responds to a lack of information and knowledge on the subject and reflects on the situation and reality of disabled people. It does so by exploring how the ability and freedom to choose to pursue activities of worth (capabilities) are shaped by beliefs, attitudes, taboos, customs and laws (institutions) to either create or constrain an effective response to drought. The project draws on the social model of disability which asserts that society and its response to people with impairments creates disability. This perspective grounds the study of the social context within which disability exists. Analysis of this context, and the norms, rules and taboos which characterise it, is informed by critical institutionalism, which recognises that there is no one set of rules which determine how lives and societies are governed but a set of diverse institutions, which interact and are both formally enacted, like laws, and informally abided by, like norms. Finally, the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum on capabilities, as "spheres of freedom and choice", allows the opportunity to evaluate poverty in a way that is not dependent upon economic analysis and external categorisations. It is an empowering view that allows individuals to self-determine what they value and how easy it is for them to attain it. It also allows people to influence and determine the research agenda and key issues.These theories will frame a response to the question of "How do institutions shape the capabilities of disabled people and their capacity to respond to extreme drought conditions?"The research will use a mixed-method case-study design to explore the relationship between the three key phenomena using Ethiopia and Uganda as cases. A comparative case study design will allow the research to consider the influence of a range of institutional factors, including different legislative and political responses to disability in Ethiopia and Uganda. Qualitative data will be collected through semi-structured interviews with members of Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPOs) in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and Mbale, Uganda to explore the impacts of drought, flooding and other environmental shocks on disabled people. A series of key informant interviews will take place with stakeholders and actors at the national level in Ethiopia and Uganda to explore the different factors, capabilities, and institutions that shape how environmental changes and shocks impact disabled people. Analysis of the data will examine how the institutions, customs, norms, and social context of disabled people mediate their vulnerability to climate change and impacts their resilience. Statistical analysis will be undertaken of the Ethiopian Socioeconomic Survey (ESS) and Uganda National Panel Survey (UNPS) to test whether statistically significant relationships between multidimensional poverty and capabilities, disability, and climate change can be inferred and test whether the relationship between these discrete variables suggests any causal relationship.