Specificity of the poverty of persons with disabilities
– the project was conducted in Smederevo, Jagodina and Leskovac, from January 2004 to January 2005. As part of this project, the Povertry Reduction Strategy was promoted and the research on specificity of the poverty of persons with disabilities and additional disability expenses were organized.
Persons with disabilities and their families are one of the most vulnerable groups that were recognized within the Poverty Reduction Strategy. According to CIL researches, the percentage of PWDs below the poverty line is 62%, which is much more than in non-disabled population. The reasons for that are
- low level of education and inadequate choice of employment (50% of PWDs has just basic education or even uncompleted grammar school ), therefore they are not solvent on workforce market
- inability to reach decent job ( only 13% of PWDs are employed )
- PWDs has higher expenditures vs lower incomes, related to the costs of disabilities, which non-disabled population does not have
- non-adapted environment disabled them from involvement in regular activities, so decision makers hardly notice their life problems
- weak organization of disabled peoples’ organizations lead to their low impact on changes of current situation and insufficient advocacy of their interests
- prejudices in social environment lead to loneliness, isolation and minimal options for PWDs to participate in social life
- support services are undeveloped and insufficient, mostly related to residential institutions with very limited capacities
- lack of alternative forms of support for PWDs and their families.