Abstract
The principal argument for the mainstreaming of disability within development cooperation has been that poverty and disability are closely interlinked. Furthermore, because disabled people, especially women and children, comprise a large proportion of the poorest of the poor, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can not be met unless disability is addressed. However, because of a lack of reliablestatistical data it has proved difficult to convince governments and policy makers of the real extent of disability or its functional relationship with poverty. The absence of robust figures has also made it difficult to pinpoint where intervention would be most productive, while at the same time weakening the ability of DPOs and their allies to move disability up the development agenda. This chapter addresses the current state of affairs with regard to disability statistics in low-income countries. It considers the role of disabled people themselves in the development of relevant statistics and their application, an alternative to the traditional impairment-based disability statistics, and possible ways forward to ensure that necessary data is produced and utilised for the benefit of disabled people in poor countries.
