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People with disabilities (PWD) are disproportionately impacted by disasters. In times of disaster, they are at higher risk of death, injury, and loss of property than people without disabilities. The contemporary approach, which is widely adopted to address disaster risk for PWD mainly relies on examining the availability of or access to resources. This poses challenges to understand how PWD are affected by disasters. This thesis thus employs the capability approach, which is increasingly adopted in disability research, as an alternative approach to address disaster risk facing PWD.
To enable the explanatory power of the capability approach in explaining disaster risk facing PWD, this study adopted critical realism as its research paradigm. It argues that critical realism is well suited for uncovering causal factors that explain the potentialities for PWD to achieve their valued capabilities. Furthermore, by focusing on both agency and structures, it can generate explanations for how capabilities are actualised. A multi-case study design was implemented in two rural communes in Vietnam. Data were collected using focus group discussions and interviews that involved people with disabilities, parents/caregivers of people with intellectual/psychosocial disabilities, and representatives from related organisations.
It was found that PWD are affected by disasters due to the lack of capabilities that they value in dealing with disasters. A range of capabilities that PWD value was revealed with many being valued not only in times of disaster but also in daily life (such as being healthy, being nourished, being mobile, having clean water, and being sheltered safely). The findings also highlight that, to actualise their valued capabilities, people with disabilities need access not only to resources but also to the factors that enable them to convert the resources to their valued capabilities. In most cases, the limitations to the achievement of capabilities are related to the external environment.
In addition, this study demonstrates that, although social structures play an important role in creating and perpetuating disadvantages and injustices, PWD, as active agents, have the power to transform social structures that, in turn, bring about positive changes to reduce disaster risk for themselves. It was found that, in most cases, PWD need to participate in decision-making processes to achieve valuable capabilities for their safety in times of disaster. This process of participation can be seen as both an end and a means. As an end, it
refers to the capability of engaging in decision-making processes. As a means, it is a process in which PWD individually or collectively exert their agency (i.e. raising their voice, influencing decision making and transforming decisions into actions) to actualise their valued capabilities. For participation as a means to be achieved, however, participation as an end must be secured.
Despite its focus on PWD, this study also raises the possibility of applying the capability approach for understanding disaster risk faced by other groups of people in society. It further demonstrates the potentiality of using critical realism in disability and disaster explanatory research. |
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