Social model of disability: This model promotes the human rights of all disabled people as equal members of society and views disability as the social consequence of having an impairment. Unlike the medical approach this model accepts the collective responsibility to break down the barriers preventing disabled people from realising equal opportunities i.e. society as a whole needs to change to ensure inclusion.

Disability: Is defined as the outcome of the interaction between a person with an impairment and the environmental and attitudinal barriers that they may face that results in a denial of rights and equal opportunities.

Disability rights organisations: Rights-based membership organisations controlled by disabled people themselves, campaigning for their rights and inclusion in society.

Disabled people or people with disabilities? The chosen terminology of the disability movement varies between cultures and languages. In this document we have used ‘disabled people’ as this is favoured by many of the international associations of disabled people e.g. Disabled Peoples’ International and is consistent with the social model of disability. However in other countries and within the UN the disability movement uses ‘people/persons with disabilities’. ADD programmes adopt the terminology favoured locally.

Disabled people: Disabled people is used generically in this document to mean disabled men, women, children of all ages with any form of impairment that results in them being disabled. We are using this term to cover the diversity of disabled people and to include the most marginalised.

Impairment: Impairment is a characteristic and condition of an individual’s body or mind that unsupported may limit that person’s functioning.

Capacity building : The process of individual and organisational development that assists disabled people’s organisations to achieve their aims, lead and manage effectively and become self sustaining organisations able to deal with change.

Inclusive policies: Policies that acknowledge that disabled peopled have the same rights as all other members of society and to be included in all aspects of society e.g. poverty alleviation and development work.

Medical model of disability: This model defines disabled people by their impairment and the approach is to offer medical and technical solutions to alleviate the effect of their impairment rather than to consider the social barriers to their inclusion.

Partners: Organisations of disabled people that ADD works with in Asia and Africa.

Self-help: Disabled people who have come together to address the causes of their oppression, discrimination or poverty and to campaign and advocate for equal rights.