Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 19 - Humanitarianism and disability

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024.
This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 19 - Humanitarianism and disability - contributed by Dale Buscher and Emma Pearce.

From the introduction
Humanitarian practice has been guided and shaped by the humanitarian imperative, as outlined in the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) movement (ICRC, 1994), which is framed on the right to receive and provide humanitarian assistance.
The Code of Conduct is founded on the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence – emphasising that assistance is based on need alone. Recent global humanitarian and development commitments all reference the importance of ‘leaving no one behind’, reaching the most vulnerable with assistance, including persons with disabilities who have historically been marginalised and excluded (UN General Assembly, 2015; World Humanitarian Summit, 2016). Concurrently, there has been a paradigm shift to ‘resilience humanitarianism’, which instead focuses on building local capacity to respond, adapt, and recover from crises – shifting affected communities from beneficiaries to active agents in their own recovery (Hilhorst, 2018). In spite of these developments, persons with disabilities continue to be largely viewed as a generic group of vulnerable persons with needs for prioritisation, rather than diverse individuals with capacities to contribute to their own recovery and that of the wider affected community.

Note on contributors
Dale Buscher was Vice President for Programs at the Women’s Refugee Commission, led work on refugee livelihoods, youth, adolescents, and gender. Buscher has worked in humanitarian assistance since 1988, managing programs in the Balkans, Middle East, and Asia.
He has authored articles and book chapters on refugee protection, urban refugees, and gender. Buscher is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and holds a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah.

Emma Pearce led the Women’s Refugee Commission’s global research and advocacy on disability inclusion across the humanitarian sector from 2012–2018.
She now works as a Gender and Inclusion Consultant providing technical support to a range of organisations, including UN agencies and NGOs. Emma has worked in partnership with organisations of persons with disabilities from around the world and is currently undertaking a PhD at Deakin University focused on the role of women and girls with disabilities in humanitarian action.

Overviews are already available for the following chapters:
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation

Humanitarianism and colonialism

Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991

Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and securitisation

Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective

Localisation and the humanitarian sector

Human rights and humanitarianism

Humanitarian organisations: behemoths and butterflies

Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities

Diaspora assistance  

Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020)

Subversive humanitarianism

Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and the military

Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector

Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations

Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’

Class matters in humanitarianism

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