Today there was an interesting article in The Himalayan Times about Hari Budha Magar who became the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Mount Everest. He lost both his legs as a British Gurkha soldier, in the words of the newspaper put it “while fighting for the UK alongside Prince Harry in April 2010.” Budha Magar wants to inspire people with disabilities, and he highlights that disabilities are not sins of a previous life that people with disabilities are a burden.”
A decade ago we conducted research into attitudes towards disability in rural Nepal and found very similar notions [1]. At the time we wrote most participants only considered physical conditions that limit function of an individual and are visible to naked eyes, such as missing a leg or arm, to be disability. Attitudes towards people with disability were generally positive, for example most women believed that disabled people should have equal rights and should be allowed to sit on committees or get married. Most respondents thought that disability could result from: (i) accidents; (ii) medical conditions; or (iii) genetic inheritance. Fewer women thought that disability was caused by fate or bad spirits.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
References:
Simkhada, P. P., Shyangdan, D., Van Teijlingen, E. R., Kadel, S., Stephen, J., & Gurung, T. (2013). Women’s knowledge of and attitude towards disability in rural Nepal. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35(7), 606-613. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847