primarily by their immediate families and other relatives. Unsurprisingly, the cost of
living for PWDs is higher than that of non-disabled persons. According to studies, a
vast majority of PWDs are poor and PWDs in poverty often face economic problems
due to things like additional medical treatment, rehabilitation and access to
educations. PWDs and their families are also confronted with the additional burden
of discrimination due to the general public’s lack of knowledge, awareness, and
understanding of their situational contexts. In some cases, the discrimination comes
from within the families of the PWDs themselves56.
Persons with developmental disabilities constitute a subset of PWDs whose
disabilities usually become apparent during infancy or childhood and are marked by
delayed development or functional limitations especially in learning, language,
communication, cognition, behavior, socialization, or mobility. Developmental
disabilities result in functional limitations in three (3 ) or more areas of major life
activity, namely, 1) self-care; 2 ) receptive and expressive language; 3 ) learning; 4 )
mobility; 5) self-direction; 6 ) capacity for independent living; and 7) economic selfsufficiency.
These impairments are often invisible to the naked eye and are thus much
harder to
identify than
physical
disabilities.
Additionally,
persons
with
developmental disabilities are placed in a precarious position due to the social and
cultural stigmas attached with the nature of their disability. Society’s lack of
understanding and general insensitivity towards these persons leads to ridicule,
violence and further alienation. These words and actions contribute to the
legitimization of the dominant political discourse surrounding PWDs and the
perception that they are simply nuisances undeserving of a place in mainstream
Philippine society.
State neglect forces these individuals and their families to find solutions to
complex, multi-dimensional issues surrounding poverty and disability. Under this
arrangement, only those who belong to the upper- and middle-classes can afford to
care for their family members who are PWDs. The lack of institutional support for
PWDs, in general, and persons with developmental disabilities, in particular, leave
those impoverished families living with PWDs highly vulnerable to being
5 Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/disabled-people-in-poverty/
6 Shahani, L. R. (2014). Stories o f Silence: D eaf women and sexual abuse. Retrieved from https://news.abscbn.com/focus/10/20/14/stories-silence-deaf-women-and-sexual-abuse