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。东非干旱对人类的影响已经很严重；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。由于缺乏明确认识到残疾人处境的信息，他们很少参与救灾工作，以及他们每天面临的无障碍问题，他们暴露在干旱的不利影响下变得更加复杂。这一研究项目针对这一主题缺乏信息和知识的问题，反映了残疾人的处境和现实。它通过探索选择从事有价值的活动（能力）的能力和自由如何受到信仰、态度、禁忌、习俗和法律（制度）的影响，从而创造或限制对干旱的有效反应。该项目借鉴了残疾的社会模式，该模式断言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。对这一背景的分析，以及规范、规则和禁忌的特征，是由批判制度主义提供的，它认识到，没有一套规则决定如何管理生活和社会，而是一套不同的制度，这些制度相互作用，既像法律一样正式颁布，又像规范一样非正式遵守。最后，Amartya Sen和Martha Nussbaum关于能力的研究，作为“自由和选择的领域”，让我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困。这是一种授权的观点，允许个人自我决定他们所看重的是什么，以及实现它的难易程度。它还允许人们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”这个问题提供一个答案。该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。定性数据将通过与埃塞俄比亚迪勒达瓦和乌干达姆巴莱的残疾人组织（DPOs）成员的半结构化访谈收集，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层面的利益攸关方和行动者进行一系列重要的信息提供者访谈，以探讨影响环境变化和冲击如何影响残疾人的不同因素、能力和制度。对数据的分析将考察残疾人的制度、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（ESS）和乌干达全国小组调查（UNPS）进行统计分析，以检验多维贫困与能力、残疾和气候变化之间的统计显著关系是否可以推断出来，并检验这些离散变量之间的关系是否表明存在因果关系。

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.