Abstract
Although quality of life is recognised as a key area of research when assessing development, it has received little attention when studying disability in South Africa and other developing contexts. As a result we know relatively little about how people with disabilities living in developing contexts fare in comparison to their counterparts without disabilities. In this article we seek to address this gap. We draw on secondary data analysis of a national panel study to compare the outcomes of people with disabilities and those without on measures of objective and subjective indicators of quality of life. We demonstrate that on subjective indicators of quality of life, people with disabilities consistently fare worse than those without disabilities, but that these differences are related to a range of variables. This means that we need to understand the intersection of disability with other factors such as gender and age in assessing quality of life. Following this, we argue that investments in national scale interventions such as increased access to basic amenities and social services represent investments in capability enhancement. As a result such interventions have the potential to address the needs of all, including those with disabilities, and to substantially enhance their quality of life.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Approximately $38 as at 9 October 2014.
References
Albrecht, G. L., & Devlieger, P. J. (1999). The disability paradox: High quality of life against all odds. Social Science and Medicine. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00411-0.
Ardington, C., & Case, A. (2009). Health: Analysis of the NIDS wave 1 dataset. National Income Dynamics Study. Discussion Paper No. 2. www.nids.uct.ac.za/publications/discussion-papers/wave-1-papers/98-nids/discussion-paper-no02/file. Accessed April 8, 2013.
Barker, R. N., Kendall, M. D., Amsters, D. I., Pershouse, K. J., Haines, T. P., & Kuipers, P. (2008). The relationship between quality of life and disability across the lifespan for people with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. doi:10.1038/sc.2008.82.
Braithwaite, J., & Mont, D. (2009). Disability and poverty: A survey of World Bank poverty assessments and implications. ALTER-European Journal of Disability Research/Revue Européenne de Recherche Sur Le Handicap. doi:10.1016/j.alter.2008.10.002.
Bundy, C. (2014). What happened to transformation? (p. 36). Johannesburg: Mail & Guardian.
Burchardt, T. (2004). Capabilities and disability: The capabilities framework and the social model of disability. Disability and Society. doi:10.1080/0968759042000284213.
Burns, J. (2009). Wellbeing and social cohesion: Analysis of the NIDS wave 1 dataset. National Income Dynamic Study. Discussion Paper No. 7. www.nids.uct.ac.za/publications/discussion-papers/wave-1-papers/98-nids-discussion-paper-no07/file. Accessed June 23, 2013.
Camfield, L. (2004). Subjective measures of well-being for developing countries. In W. Glatzer, S. von Below, & M. Stoffregen (Eds.), Challenges for the quality of life in contemporary societies. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic publishers.
Camfield, L., Guillen-Royo, M., & Velazco, J. (2010). Does needs satisfaction matter for psychological and subjective wellbeing in developing countries: A mixed methods illustration from Bangladesh and Thailand. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 497–516.
Devey, R., & Møller, V. (2002). Closing the gap between rich and poor in South Africa: Trends in objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in the October Household Survey. In W. Glatzer (Ed.), Rich and poor (pp. 105–122). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Duncan, J. (2014). The politics of counting protests (p. 31). Johannesburg: Mail & Guardian.
Edwards, T. C., Patrick, D. L., & Topolski, T. D. (2003). Quality of life of adolescents with perceived disabilities. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsg011.
Felce, D., & Perry, J. (1995). Quality of life: Its definition and measurement. Research Dev Disability, 16(1), 51–74.
Finkenflügel, H. (2008). Prospects for community-based rehabilitation in the new millenium. In V. Møller & D. Huschka (Eds.), Quality of life and the millenium challenge (pp. 265–272). New York: Springer.
Grech, S. (2011). Poverty and disability. Disability and Society. doi:10.1080/09687599.2011.618747.
Greyling, T. (2013). A composite index of the quality of life for the Gauteng city-region: A principal component analysis approach. Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) Occasional Paper Series Paper No. 7. Johannesburg: GCRO.
Habib, A. (2014). Now the rich must do their bit (p. 7). Johannesburg: Sunday Times.
Halpern, A. S. (1994). Quality of life for students with disabilities in transition from school to adulthood. Social Indicators Research, 33, 193–236.
Hosain, G. M., Monawar, D., Atkinson, D., & Underwood, P. (2011). Impact of disability on quality of life of rural disabled people in Bangladesh. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (JHPN). doi:10.3329/jhpn.v20i4.167.
Jongdudomkarn, D., & Camfield, L. (2006). Exploring the quality of life of people in north eastern and southern Thailand. Social Indicators Research, 78, 489–529.
Leibbrandt, M., Woolard, I., & de Villiers, L. (2009). Methodology: Report on NIDS wave 1. Cape Town: South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU).
Lustig, D. C., & Strauser, D. R. (2007). Causal relationships between poverty and disability. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin. doi:10.1177/00343552070500040101.
Mangena, M. (2014). Democracy has also brought us great inequality (p. 23). Johannesburg: Mail & Guardian.
McDougall, J., Wright, V., Schmidt, J., Miller, L., & Lowry, K. (2011). Applying the ICF framework to study changes in quality-of-life for youth with chronic conditions. Developmental Neurorehabilitation. doi:10.3109/17518423.2010.521795.
Midgley, J. (2013). Social development: Theory and practice. California: Sage.
Mitra, S. (2006). The capability approach and disability. Journal of Disability Policy Studies. doi:10.1177/10442073060160040501.
Mitra, S., Posarac, A., & Vick, B. (2013). Disability and poverty in developing countries: A multidimensional study. World Development. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.05.024.
Møller, V. (2007). Satisfied and dissatisfied South Africans: Results from the General Household Survey in international comparison. Social Indicators Research, 81, 389–415.
Møller, V. (2013). South African quality of life trends over three decades, 1980–2010. Social Indicators Research, 113, 915–940.
Møller, V., & Devey, R. (2003). Trends in living conditions and satisfaction among poorer older South Africans: Objective and subjective indicators of quality of life in the October Household Survey. Development Southern Africa, 20(4), 457–476. doi:10.1080/0376835032000124475.
Mont, D., & Cuong, N. V. (2011). Disability and poverty in Vietnam. The World Bank Economic Review, 25(2), 323–359.
National Planning Commission (NPC). (2012). National development plan-2030. Republic of South Africa: The Presidency.
Noble, M. (2006). The Provincial Indices of multiple deprivation for South Africa 2001. United Kingdom: Centre for the Analysis of South Africa Social Policy, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford.
Noll, H.-H. (2013). Subjective social indicators: Benefits and limitations for policy making—An introduction to this special issue. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-013-0379-7/fulltext.html. Accessed April 16, 2014.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD Economic Surveys South Africa. (2013). http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/South%20Africa%202013%20overview%20FINAL.pdf. Accessed May 21, 2014.
Ravallion, M., & Lokshin, M. (2001). Identifying welfare effects from subjective questions. Economica. doi:10.1111/1468-0335.00250.
Rosano, A., Mancini, F., & Solipaco, A. (2009). Poverty in people with disabilities: Indicators from the capability approach. Social Indicators Research, 94, 75–82.
Ross, E., & Deverell, A. (2010). Psychosocial issues in health, illness and disability. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
South African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU). (2009). National Income Dynamics Study 2008, wave 1 [dataset]. Version 5.2. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit [producer], Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor].
Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU). (2014). National Income Dynamics Study 2010–2011, wave 2 [dataset]. Version 2.2. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit [producer], 2014. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor].
Statistics South Africa. (2003). Census 2001: Census in brief. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
Statistics South Africa. (2012). Census in Brief. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
Statistics South Africa. (2014a). Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the 1st quarter of 2014. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
Statistics South Africa. (2014b). Census 2011: Profile of persons with disabilities in South Africa. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
Strine, T. W., Kroenke, K., Dhingra, S., Balluz, L. S., Gonzalez, O., Berry, J. T., & Mokdad, A. H. (2009). The associations between depression, health-Related quality of life, social support, life satisfaction, and disability in community-dwelling US adults. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181924ad8.
United Nations. (2006). Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. United Nations. http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml. Accessed June 7, 2013.
Van Campen, C., & van Santvoort, M. (2013). Explaining low subjective well-being of persons with disabilities in Europe: The impact of disability, personal resources, participation and socio-economic status. Social Indicators Research. doi:10.1007/s11205-012-0036-6.
Viemero, V., & Krause, C. (1998). Quality of life in individuals with physical disabilities. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. doi:10.1159/000012297.
Warren, N., & Manderson, L. (2013). Reframing disability and quality of life: Contextual nuances. In N. Warren & L. Manderson (Eds.), Reframing disability and quality of life (pp. 1–16). Social Indicators Research Series 52. Springer Netherlands. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-3018-2_1.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2011). World report on disability. Geneva: WHO Press.
Acknowledgments
The study was supported by a grant from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) number 58766. This study was a collaborative initiative between DFAT and the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg. However, the views expressed and information contained in this report are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFAT which can accept no responsibility for such views or information, or for any reliance thereon. The study upon which this article draws was conducted by a team of researchers. We would like to acknowledge Ms. Jacqueline Moodley, Dr. Edson Munsaka, Ms. Zenobia Ismail, Dr. Marguerite Schneider and Dr. William Rowland. Particular thanks to Jacqueline Moodley for her critical reading and feedback on drafts of the article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Graham, L., Ross, E. Disparities in Quality of Life Among South Africans With and Without Disabilities. Soc Indic Res 127, 721–739 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0969-7
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0969-7