Orienting Social Workers to the Disability Movement in Egypt: Implications for Practice

Abstract

As the literature on the disability movement in Africa is quite limited, this paper sheds some light on its current status in one particular African country: Egypt. Due to its history and location within North Africa, Egypt's culture is a mixture of Middle Eastern/Arab and indigenous African elements and influences. The following literature-based overview is designed to highlight such issues as societal attitudes, disability laws, and governmental control and management in the context of a service delivery system designed for disabled people. In conclusion, implications for social work practice are mentioned, and some recommendations to close the existing service gaps are suggested.

KEYWORDS:

• Definition of disability
• societal attitudes/stigma
• disability laws
• service delivery system
• support for persons with disabilities in Egypt