Sundaymail Editor
Disability Issues
Dr Christine Peta
IN recognition of the 2022 National Population and Housing Census Preliminary Report, this article will focus on the functioning module that addresses issues of disability.
The Department of Disability Affairs in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (Department of Disability Affairs) occupied space in the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) Inter-Ministerial Technical Census Committee (ITCC) of the 2022 National Population and Housing Census (National Census), thus providing expertise on the functioning module.
Although some people argue that the functioning module is monotonous, the reality is that it requires careful consideration so that accurate information on disability is captured.
As we seek to uphold the principle of the SDGs-Agenda 2030 of leaving no one behind, disability statistics are of utmost importance in relation to informing both policy and practice.
A solid collaboration of ZimStat, the Department of Disability Affairs and the United Nations (UN) led by the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA) facilitated various disability training of supervisors and enumerators, during the planning stages of the 2022 national census.
On August 23, and as part of the dissemination programme of the preliminary findings of the National Census, ZimStat director-general (DG), Mr Taguma Mahonde, made a presentation on the results of the functioning module.
Drawing from the preliminary findings, the DG reported that the prevalence of persons who had varying degrees of difficulty in performing activities in the country was found to be 9,2 percent, using the cut-off point of at least “some difficulty”, “a lot of difficulty”, or “cannot do at all” in all the six domains of functioning of the Washington Group of questions which relate to seeing, hearing, walking or climbing stairs, remembering or concentration, self-care and communication.
These are functional abilities that are applicable to people of all societies and cultures, thus restricting the concept to functional limitations.
The Washington Group of questions target individual functioning, thus providing a quick and low cost way to collect data, which allows disaggregation by disability status.
The domains of the Washington Group of questions resonate with the conceptualisation of persons with disabilities as articulated in Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which Zimbabwe ratified in September 2013, thus committing as a country, to be bound by the provisions of the treaty.
Article 1 of the UNCPRD states that “persons with disabilities include those who have physical, mental, intellectual and sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.
By drawing from the Washington Group of questions which also broadly address physical, mental, intellectual and sensory impairments and through the census, Zimbabwe is in part implementing the provisions of Section 3.29 (research, statistics and data collection) of the National Disability Policy, which was launched by the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe on June 9 2021.
In addition, ZimStat, in collaboration with the Department of Disability Affairs, is also facilitating the implementation of Article 31 of the UNCRPD, which deals with the subject of statistics and data collection.
It directs countries to collect information about persons with disabilities, with the active involvement of persons with disabilities, to enable better understanding of the barriers experienced by persons with disabilities as well as to move the UNCRPD rights from paper to the ground to make a positive difference in the lives of persons with disabilities.
It is pleasing to note that in compliance with the provisions of the UNCRPD, ZimStat ensured the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all processes of the 2022 National Census, not only as persons to be counted, but also as part of census officials at all levels, including at supervisory and enumerator levels.
Drawing from the preliminary findings of the 2022 national census, ZimStat DG reported that the prevalence of persons who had varying degrees of difficulty in performing activities was 9,2 percent.
The prevalence ranged from 5,2 percent in Harare to 11,4 percent in Matabeleland North.
Topping the list of causes of disability in Zimbabwe is reportedly illness and ageing.
The collaboration of ZimStat and the Department of Disability Affairs also ensured that albinism is distinctly addressed.
That, therefore, means the Washington Group of questions were brought closer to home, by not blindly “importing” the questions, but by also considering the context of Zimbabwe in relation to disability.
Although albinism is shrouded with controversy, with some people arguing that albinism is not a disability and others saying it is a disability, in Zimbabwe we consider albinism as a form of disability.
The preliminary findings of the Census indicate that Zimbabwe has 9 753 persons with albinism, with the number of females with albinism being more than that of males in most provinces.
The National Census has also embraced the inter-sectional model, which takes into account various social life attributes that include age, gender, geographical location (urban/rural) et cetera.
Such an approach is important given that disability is not the only “thing” that a person has.
The reality is that persons with disabilities experience disability in different ways that are framed by the intersection of various identity markers.
For example, and in relation to gender, the experience of disability of a woman who uses a labour ward in a healthcare centre during a child birth process is different from that of a man with disabilities who does not go through the same biological reproductive process.
In relation to age the experiences of disability of children are different from those of adults and the same applies to geographical location – persons with disabilities who live in rural areas may experience disability in different ways from persons with disabilities who live in urban areas.
As indicated by the ZimStat DG, experts will be invited to undertake an in-depth analysis of the final findings of the 2022 National Census.
The Department of Disability Affairs in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare therefore calls upon experts in the domain of disability to rise to the occasion when the call is made.
Dr Christine Peta is a Disability, Policy, International Development and Research expert who is the National Director of Disability Affairs in Zimbabwe. She can be contacted on: [email protected]
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