Summary of Week 1

We have now reached the end of Week 1. By now you should have a clearer understanding of what disability is, and why it is important to the global development agenda.

In this first week, we have heard from a diverse range of people with disabilities who have explained why disability matters to them from a personal perspective. We have also learnt about the global figures related to disability, and how to define and describe disability. We’ve also begun to understand the relationship between the impairment that an individual has and the contextual factors such as the environment they live in, or resources available to them, that impact on their disability.

Next week we will learn about the meaning of health and well-being in the context of disability, and related challenges that might exist. We will also explore the links between health and disability through various case studies and present the disability spiral, thinking about different types of barriers people with disabilities may face in accessing health care and proposed solutions.

Next week’s activities are available now, and if you decide to look at them early, you may want to return to the comments area of each step in order to speak to other learners and offer your thoughts and opinions about the content.

We have pulled together common points and key themes from learner discussions, and a summary document in response to these is available under the ‘Downloads’ section at the bottom of this page.

We look forward to joining you in Week 2 of the course!