People with disabilities represent about 15% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean, or around 88 million people (as of 2020), and are expected to grow in numbers to 150 million by mid-century. But there are numerous areas of life where this large group of people has not been sufficiently included and, as a result, are unable to maximize their potential or fully contribute to society and the economy.
Many children with disabilities still study in segregated schools, for example, and, particularly at levels of education beyond primary school, are less likely to be enrolled than other children and youth. People with disabilities continue to face access barriers to the health services they need. And they have lower employment rates, are less likely to be formally employed, and make only 88 cents for every dollar earned by their equally experienced and educated counterparts without disabilities. Unsurprisingly, they are also more likely to be poor, to experience food insecurity, and to lack internet connection.
The Need for Evidence
While these gaps have been understood by many governments in the region to represent ethical and economic shortcomings, the way forward is not always clear. All countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and many of them have unveiled laws and policies oriented around closing the gaps and ensuring inclusion. But critical evidence as to what works and what doesn’t is still missing in crucial areas, making the work of policymakers ever more difficult in their effort to ensure equal rights and opportunities.
The recent Latin American and Caribbean Microeconomic Report seeks to address that problem by reviewing the evidence on the effectiveness of disability inclusion policies in education, health, labor markets and social protection. The report describes the status of people with disabilities in the region and details the region’s related policy landscape. It also highlights evidence-based programs that are being implemented in the region as well as programs backed with rigorous evidence that are being implemented elsewhere and thus represent prime candidates for being put into practice. The report discusses the many interventions that are being widely put into use despite a lack of causal evidence, and critically, and in keeping with the philosophy of “nothing about us without us,” it includes an online survey in which people with disabilities and their families weigh in on which areas of research are a priority for them.
Educational Policy for People with Disabilities
Consider the case of education, an area that most respondents with disabilities labeled as their research priority. While children and youth with disabilities in the region are generally able to go to primary school, their inclusion in accessible mainstream schools continues to be a challenge, with large numbers still studying in segregated special schools. That is unfortunate. Chile and Brazil have had highly successful programs of educational inclusion. Moreover, there is evidence on how to accomplish inclusion, by, for example, providing resource rooms with assistive materials or providing teaching assistants in the classroom. Other approaches, such as scholarships and individualized education, also are considered promising, based on strong “theories of change” that lack causal evidence to date.
Labor market policy offers another example. People with disabilities have lower labor market participation rates and lower monthly earnings relative to their counterparts without disabilities, in part because they lack equal educational opportunities and because of factors such as discrimination, inadequate accommodations in the workplace, and inaccessible transportation. Some countries in the region have responded with legislation and regulations, including employment quotas. But the evidence on the effectiveness of those measures, while somewhat positive in the region, is mixed in others. There are no rigorous studies of laws that make it more difficult to fire people with disabilities. And other evidence on policies to encourage their hiring, such as wage subsidies, is limited and inconclusive, illustrating the fundamental need to conduct more research, closely monitor interventions, and adapt them to the region’s needs. The same can be said of the other areas — health and social protection — where evidence in the report on the positive, neutral, mixed, limited or negative effects of interventions are documented in detail.
Ethical and Economic Obligations
Latin America and the Caribbean is still falling short in its moral and ethical obligations towards people with disabilities and depriving itself, in the process, of the 2%-3% boost in GDP that their genuine inclusion in the labor market could bring to its economies. The region, depending on the country, spends only between .01% and 1.5% of GDP on disability programs, considerably below the 2.6% average for European countries. While more funding and more ambitious programs would be welcome, rigorous, evidence-based research is critical to ensure that the most effective programs are prioritized, an endeavor to which this report is dedicated.
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