Sociocultural Construction of Disability in Sri Lanka: Charity to Rights-based Approach

Abstract

This chapter focuses on exploring the socio-cultural construction of disability in Sri Lanka and its impact on the everyday lives of persons with disability. The analysis is based on an ethnographic study in diverse social settings. As against context-specific characteristics, disability is defined merely as a physical or intellectual impairment of a person from a charity perspective where the ideology of karma plays a crucial role by providing a justification for the existence of inequality among human beings. The construction has adverse effects on all domains of the everyday lives of persons with disabilities. Discrimination against persons with disability originates from family itself that reinforces by other social institutions. Thus, not only the attitudes of lay people but also of service providers suggest no signs of moving from charity to a rights-based approach toward disability. Though Sri Lanka has a National Policy on Disability to promote rights of people with disability, there are huge gaps existing at the level of enforcement. While acknowledging the strengths of social mode, the chapter argues that disability demands an integrated approach toward empowering persons with disabilities and to mobilize the entire society to create an environment with reasonable accommodation for an inclusive society that accepts disability as part of the diversity. The government and civil society organizations have a crucial role in moving forward from a charity perspective to a rights-based approach toward disability.