Abby Ewen

Disability and identity in times of Crisis in Nepal, balancing urgency and inclusion in disaster resilience

Those who identify as disabled are amongst the most at risk from the impacts of extreme events, including those associated with climate change. The critical importance of equal access and active participation by people with disabilities has received increasing attention in disaster risk reduction, climate change and humanitarian discourses yet the empirical evidence on the subject remains limited. Prior to my PhD, I worked as a research officer on a diverse range of projects for non- government organisations (NGOs) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). During this time, it became increasingly clear that there was little consideration for people with disabilities in programming, data collection or research outputs despite the increasing mention of ‘inclusion’ and ‘participation’ in wider discourse.

The project seeks to understand how urgent action around disaster recovery and resilience in an uneven development context intersects with ongoing cultural processes that shape individual self-identification with and public action on disability. It tracks how those identifying as physically disabled experienced the 2015 earthquake in Kathmandu and its recovery and the ways response and resilience building has impacted on or been used to change the way disability is imagined and incorporated in policy, legislation and intervention.  It asks if urgent disaster response and resilience building has enabled or hindered struggles for inclusion in public life and collective action, through the acute experiences of people who identify as physically disabled.  The research questions bring together three lines of sight on the policy, leadership and local experiences of inclusion and exclusion for people with disabilities to understand how discourses of disability have been shaped by policy and practice in the risk space, how local advocates for disability rights have navigated their involvement in this space and most pertinently, to give voice to those who are underrepresented or unheard in these processes.

Qualifications

• MA Disasters Adaptability and Development, Distinction, Kings College London. 2017–2018
• BSC Geography, Notting Trent University. 2013–2016