Disability news and resources in Asia
This page lists the countries in Asia with resources and recent highlights.
Countries
- Asia
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- China
- Georgia
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nagorno-Karabakh territory
- Nepal
- North Korea
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Asia
- South East Asia
- South Korea
- Sri Lanka
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Timor Leste
- Turkmenistan
- Türkiye
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Yemen
Recent Highlights
In Azerbaijan:
Azerbaijan sees significant drop in disability pensioners: What's behind the change?
“In January 2019, there were 390,100 recipients of disability pensions. By January 2024, this number had fallen to 258,700.” (2024, JAM News)
In China:
Gender and Disability in China: The Rise of Female-Led Disabled Persons’ Organisations (DPOs):
“Amid the growing disability-consciousness movement enabled by digitalisation, a new generation of female-led DPOs has been active and influential in raising disability awareness and organising communities in China. These female-led DPOs are initiated by Chinese disabled women who are based in major cities in China or living overseas. Many founders are highly educated and have been educated overseas. Their organisations aim to build communities (many specifically hope to empower disabled girls and women through targeted programming), share resources, and challenge disability and gender stigma from traditional male-led DPOs.” (Feb, Made in China Journal)
In Georgia:
What type of country we become Disabled people between Georgia’s Soviet legacy and European future:
“As disabled people, whatever happens in the world affects us. In article I explain how larger geopolitical battles also play out in the disability community. On the one hand the legacy of the Soviet Union is still present. And on the other hand Europe gives us an ideal of what rights can look like, even as they are held out of reach.” (2024, Disability Debrief)
In India:
Unshrinking my body: a journey back home. Debrief illustrator Sonaksha with a deeply personal illustrated essay. (Jan, Heinrich Böll Stiftung)
Court Decisions on Disability Rights in India. A resource book. (2024, Centre for Law & Policy Research)
Working to work Disabled people fighting for accessible livelihoods in India:
“Despite the hurdles, disabled people continue to work the best with what we’ve got. So many of us don’t just have to contribute to the workforce but also look after ourselves and advocate for our rights to work at the same time. We’re stretching ourselves thin just to be able to secure a livelihood. The hard-won successes of working as a disabled person are bittersweet.” (2024, Disability Debrief)
It is hard for me to say I am disabled My struggle with a sacred word:
“Another day, at another airport, I spot a standee that encourages passengers to speak to the staff if they need help with any 'invisible disabilities'. My heart sings. They see me! I am tempted to walk up to someone. Perhaps they know how to help people attacked by their own luggage? Perhaps what I need, what I've always needed, is a kind airport concierge, not another doctor?” (2024, Sanity by Tanmoy)
In Iraq:
Iraqis with Disabilities Excluded from Jobs Persistent Failure to Ensure Right to Work; Quotas Unfilled. See also a short video.
“Legal promises to employ people with disabilities in Iraq are not translating into real job opportunities,” said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The gap between law and practice leaves hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with disabilities struggling to earn a living.” (2024, Human Rights Watch)
In Malaysia:
Tan Kuan Aw activist and artist. Remembering the art he published on Disability Debrief. (Feb, Disability Debrief)
Dubious disabilities, duping doctors “Three doctors and a woman were among 33 people remanded yesterday for falsifying Socso disability claims amounting to RM2.1mil [483,000 USD] since 2017.” (2024, The Star)
In Nepal:
‘Sikka’ harmonises diversity and accessibility Blind Rocks’ new music video with audio description and closed captions ensures accessibility for blind and deaf audiences. (2024, Kathmandu Post)
In Pakistan:
Finding my fairy-tale Travel tales by Tanzila Khan, who travels with a wheelchair and a green passport:
“I imagine myself in the stories I grew up with. I’m a modern-day Ibn Battuta traveling by wheelchair and airplane rather than camel, wagon or horse. I’m Snow White and I had to stay at the cottage because the Airbnb wasn’t accessible.” (2024, Disability Debrief)
In Palestine:
“They Destroyed What Was Inside Us” A report on Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza. In the words of Ghazal, a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in Gaza:
“From the day the war broke out, they destroyed what was inside us. They demolished my house and my room, which held all my memories. They took everything that helped me to live, like my devices, my boot, and my wheelchair. How can I go back to how I was without all this?” (2024, Human Rights Watch)
In the Philippines:
The labour migration cycle: from the perspective of Filipinos with disabilities, featuring four case studies. (Jan, Disability Migration Network)
In South Korea:
Profile of Kyung Seok Park a daredevil and activist campaigning for 40 years:
“Since I’ve been protesting, I’ve noticed that the reaction of the police depends on our country’s leader. Now a conservative government is in power, the attitude has shifted. Authorities have stolen our placards, stopped us from riding the subway and thrown us off the trains. They mock us, damage our wheelchairs and I’ve been strangled to the point where I couldn’t breathe.” (2024, Amnesty)