I’ve written before about the hardships facing people with disabilities in isolated, authoritarian countries like North Korea. Radio Free Asia has a report on the extremely harsh treatment of people with disabilities by the North Korean regime, including the forced expulsion of people with disabilities and their families from the capital city of Pyongyang. The government has also expelled most of the non-governmental organizations that provide critical aid and assistive technology to North Koreans with disabilities. Of course, life is bleak for most North Koreans, but this report paints a dire picture for its citizens with disabilities.
I wonder if anyone has done a study of the quality of life of people with disabilities in totalitarian societies. Do people with disabilities fare any better in Iran or Cuba? What about quasi-authoritarian states like Russia or China? Someone do a lit search and let me know if you find anything. And thanks to the BBC’s Ouch! website for pointing me to this link.
In Congo, a man or woman who can’t walk may be regarded as someone who is under the spell of a “ndoki”, a spirit.
I alway pitied a man crawling on the ground, unable to walk and living without the comfort of medicine or science.
Here it’s not only the government that is to blame but also the primitive beliefs of the native people.
Hi Mark,
I sent you a link to an article about the disabled in Cuba. It might be buried in your email somewhere.
Jacqueline