Paper long abstract:

This paper will seek to address the dilemmas of concept and culture in shaping disability issues and concerns in South Asian contexts. Drawing on data gathered during a qualitative study undertaken in parts of India and Pakistan, this paper will interrogate ways in which young people with disabilities understand the causes and consequences of their impairments and how they negotiate issues of stigma. Based on interviews conducted with the young people and their families it will also investigate the impact that deprivation of resources has on how disability is viewed and experienced. Findings from the study suggest evolving perceptions of disability, wherein the causes of disability are seen as being located within the scientific/medical framework alongside issues of karma etc., without any perceived dissonance. More importantly, it is also evident that people with disabilities are finding themselves enmeshed in a kind of 'surveillance society', and awareness of the benefits of having an identified and certificated disability is spreading, which is slowly changing perceptions towards 'disability', especially in poor communities.