The proposed project builds on the finding of the Disability and Inclusion Africa (DIA) project that many health practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa have little understanding of the complexity of living with disability and that the alternative explanations for disability highlighted by the DIA project are not sufficiently understood. These 'alternative explanations' include assumptions and misconceptions, medical determinist, and religious or supernatural beliefs. Discourses of disability are often created by medical professionals, social scientists or development agencies, and most often in the global north, quite removed from the daily realities of disabled persons. These discourses are embedded into healthcare systems and practices in sub-Saharan African contexts, where the focus is primarily on treating the specific medical condition or disability, rather than taking a more holistic patient-centered approach which recognizes the wider impact of beliefs and attitudes on disabled persons. This follow-on project engages applied theatre and creative writing to stimulate dialogue and reflection to enhance healthcare practitioners' understandings of the experience of being disabled in sub-Saharan African contexts. A series of workshops facilitated by theatre and creative writing practitioners will be held in Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa, bringing together disabled persons and healthcare practitioners to reflect on what it means to be disabled in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on the workshop discussions and outputs, the project team will work with Disabled Persons Organizations and trainers of healthcare practitioners to develop a Continuing Professional Development Resource for healthcare practitioners. By increasing awareness of the impact of these alternative explanations among health professionals, the project aims to inform their practice and inspire a more patient-centered approach.

This collaboratively conceived project will establish the Disability and Inclusion in Africa network. Working across disciplines, the project will engage Arts and Humanities research to enhance disability inclusion in international development. Discourses of disability are often created by medical professionals, social scientists or development agencies, and most often in the global north, quite removed from the realities experienced on the ground. This project focuses on the central theme of 'alternative explanations' for disability in African contexts to invite discussion of a range of beliefs and attitudes towards disability, which may include assumptions and misconceptions, traditional beliefs, religious beliefs, medical determinism, supernatural or witchcraft-related beliefs. By increasing awareness of the impact of these alternative explanations, the network will contribute to understandings of the ways in which approaches to inclusion in international development programmes and strategies can be enhanced. Building on new and existing partnerships, the Disability and Inclusion in Africa network will forge international dialogue between researchers and stakeholders at a series of events and exhibitions in Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, South Africa and the UK. The project not only responds to gaps in scholarship, but the culturally-informed research that will emerge from the project aims to bring about a step-change in the way in which disability studies is approached within and beyond Africa, and in the way in which disability is understood by stakeholders in communities, civil society and international development.