Disability in Nepal: The lived experience of physical disability and access to rehabilitation services in Dang District

Date:

9 October 2025, Thursday

Time:

4pm – 5pm 

Location:

MD1, Level 10, Conference Rooms 1 and 2 (#10-01A)

Abstract:

Background: Disability profoundly affects the lives of people in Nepal. Persons with disability in Nepal have poorer physical and mental health, lower access to education and employment, and lower well-being compared to persons without disability. Within the socio-cultural context there is significant stigma and discrimination against persons with disability, linked to the belief that disability is a punishment for past sins. Rehabilitation services are extremely limited and very few people with disabilities have received such services. Physical disability is the most prevalent type of disability (36.75%).

Aim: This study aims to understand the lived experience of adults with physical disability in Dang district of Nepal and their access to community and hospital-based rehabilitation services, and to develop recommendations for disability policy and practice to promote greater access to these services for persons with disability.

Methods: This study is undergirded by a conceptual framework I have developed called the “One-Line Flower Framework”, which is a critical phenomenological sociology of disability. A scoping review has been conducted to summarize the literature on the lived experience of adults with physical disability in Nepal, and their access to rehabilitation services. A qualitative study involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with 30 adults with physical disability in Dang district is in progress, to explore their lived experience, how it is shaped by social, cultural, religious, and political contexts, and how the various aspects of lived experience influence their access to rehabilitation services. Third, Participatory Action Research (PAR) will be conducted with two groups comprising adults with physical disability, to identify interventions that support the exercise of agency by persons with disability and increase their access to rehabilitation. Based on the research findings, recommendations will be developed for how disability-related policy and disability-focused organizations can promote greater access to rehabilitation services for persons with disability in Nepal.

Speaker:

• Adjunct Associate Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore
• Advisor (Leadership and Capacity Development), International Nepal Fellowship (INF), Pokhara, Nepal
• Advisor (Medical Services Development), International Nepal Fellowship (INF), Pokhara, Nepal

Adj A/Prof Chin is a public health specialist with 15 years of experience in health policy, programme development, strategic planning, research, clinical care, capacity building, and leadership development. In the Ministry of Health Singapore, he successfully led the development of national policies and strategies in palliative care, healthcare financing, and health promotion.

He has been volunteering in Nepal since 2020 as an advisor for a local NGO, the International Nepal Fellowship, where he drives and lead capacity building and leadership development programmes across the organization, and supports long-term strategic planning for the organization’s hospital and health services.