Cultural beliefs regarding people with disabilities in Namibia: Implications for the inclusion of people with disabilities

Namibia is a southern African country with national level policies promoting community inclusion and inclusive education. Despite these policies, people with disabilities are often excluded from schools and community life. This study explores the nuanced cultural beliefs about the causes of disability in Namibia, and the impacts of such beliefs on the implementation of disability policy. Eight themes emerged from this study regarding specific myths about the causes of disability and appropriate community responses to people with disabilities. This study finds that many Namibians believe in supernatural causes of disability, such as witchcraft, and/or in the role of improper relationships of family members as causes of disability; and that community responses to Namibians with disabilities are often negative. However, many people, particularly parents with disabilities, often have strong positive views of disability as well, reflecting the complex and changing nature of cultural beliefs. This study suggests that the implementation of disability inclusion policies is more likely to be successful if it builds upon positive aspects of cultural beliefs about disability. According to the World Health Organization (2005), approximately 10% of the world’s population has a disability, and 80% of those with disabilities live in the developing world. Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been a growing international disability movement that has pushed for the inclusion of people with disabilities within society. Countries have developed policies related to education; employment, income support, anti-discrimination and other policies intended to improve the position of people with disabilities within their own society. This is sometimes based on international agreements and programmes, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons of 1975 (United Nations, 1975) and the African Decade of Disabled Persons (2000-2009) (African Union, 2002). However, for policies and programmes to be effective, it is important that they take into account the cultural beliefs about disability that exist within their populations. This study examines the cultural beliefs of Namibians towards disability, and discusses the implications of these beliefs on the creation and implementation of national policies and programmes related to community inclusion and inclusive education. Background Namibia is a country in southwestern Africa that achieved independence from South Africa in 1990. The country has a small, diverse population of 1.9 million people, with roughly 67% living in rural areas, particularly in the northern part of Namibia near the Angolan border. There are numerous ethnic groups in Namibia, with approximately 50% belonging to the Ovambo group, and other ethnic groups include the Kavango (9%), Herero (7%), Damara (7%), Nama (5%) and the San Bushmen (3%). Namibia also has a sizeable population who identify as Coloured, and a population of people of German heritage who descend from the German colonizers (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008). The vast majority of Namibians are of the Christian faith. According to the 2001 Population and Housing Census, approximately 5% of Namibians have a disability. Through the National Policy on Disability (Government of the Republic of Namibia, Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, 1997), the Namibian Government took the