(Dis)ability and development in Haiti: beyond one-dimensional views

Abstract

The 2010 earthquake was a tragedy for Haitians: in addition to the 250,000 lives lost and 1,000,000 persons displaced, 200,000 persons became disabled. Although post-earthquake reconstruction efforts are seen by some as a failure, others have argued that they could be a model for the inclusion of disabled persons. This paper explores the grey zone between those interpretations. Based on original document and interview research, it shows how international support for disabled persons was driven by the organisation of that community into a social movement with representation in the state. It concludes by examining pending challenges from a critical perspective.

Keywords:

• Haiti
• disability
• social movements
• post-disaster reconstruction
• international development

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the research assistance of Nancy Vanessa Stimphil and Kendy Massena.

Notes

1. BSEIPH, Rapport initial. Those official estimates have been questioned by L’Etang et al. in Haiti après la catastrophe, yet they have been widely accepted as plausible.

2. BSEIPH, Rapport initial, 10. See also Wolbring, “Disability, Displacement”.

3. Wolbring, Ibid., 1.

4. Peck, Fatal Assistance.

5. Edmunds, “Beyond Good Intentions”; Seitenfus, L’Echec de l’aide; and Zanotti, “Cacophonies of Aid”.

6. Baranyi, “Contested Statehood”; and Louis, Pertes capitales.

7. UNSG, MINUSTAH Report, March.

8. Côté, “Un espace politique menacé”; and Côté, “Anpil famn tombe”.

9. World Bank, Conflict, Security and Development.

10. Bourdieu, Questions de sociologie; and Cox, Production, Power and World Order.

11. Louis, Pertes capitales.

12. Stienstra, “Lost without wayfinders?”

13. Wolbring, “Disability, Displacement”. This assessment was confirmed by several of our key informants.

14. Côté, “Un espace politique menacé”.

15. Comité des femmes pour les refugiés, Personnes handicapées.

16. Cited in Wolbring, “Disability, Displacement”. The toolkit is available at http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/disability-and-development-network/blog/haiti-toolkit-long-term-recovery-gpdd.

17. Wolbring, “Disability, Displacement”.

18. Péan, Haïti: Un modèle d’exclusion.

19. Cited by Péan in Haïti: Un modèle d’exclusion, 4.

20. Ibid.

21. Société civile du département du Sud, Rapport alternatif, 5.

22. Péan, Haïti: Un modèle d’exclusion, 6.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid., 4. In the original French text, Pean says clearly that: ‘Cet énoncé juridique va rester pendant vingt ans (1987–2007), lettre morte, un simple vœu pieux, puisqu’aucune loi d’application, aucune instance étatique n’est venue a sa rescousse.’ That dramatic assessment is largely confirmed by Blanchet and Tartaryn, Rehabilitation.

25. According to UNICEF, at least 200,000 children lived with serious handicaps before the earthquake and that number probably grew significantly after January 2010. See UNICEF, Pour une meilleure integration. With regards to class differences, one high-level key informant suggested that without a doubt, it is among the poor that one finds the largest number of handicapped persons. For example, there are about 80,000 blind persons in Haiti. Fifty per cent of those have cataracts that could be reversed. The rich and the middle class can afford such interventions, but for the poor, it is more much more difficult to find the money for such operations.

26. BSEIPH, Rapport initial.

27. BSEIPH, Handiscoop, 1(13).

28. BSEIPH, Handiscoop, 1(22), 6.

29. Several of our key informants confirmed that such virtual and face-to-face consultations took place in 2013–2014, though only some of the prominent DPO leaders whom we interviewed participated in that process.

30. BSEIPH, Rapport initial, 13, 14; and BSEIPH, Handiscoop, 1(17), 2.

31. Ibid., 20.

32. Ibid., 22, 23.

33. BSEIPH, “Des établissements scolaires”.

34. BSEIPH, Rapport initial, 25.

35. Ibid., 28.

36. Alter-presse, December 3, 2013.

37. Société civile du département du Sud, Rapport alternatif, 15.

38. BSEIPH, “Des améliorations constatées”.

39. BSEIPH, “L’AFAS et l’UFMORH contre”.

40. Alterpresse, “Des centaines de personnes défilent”.

41. Stienstra, “Lost without wayfinders?”