Building disability inclusive futures

Building disability inclusive futures

From IDS Live by Institute of Development Studies

April 23, 2026 · 51 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the urgent need for disability-inclusive development and features insights from various experts in the field.

Disability is very much part of the human experience, with an estimated 16% of the world’s population experiencing significant disability. Despite this, people with disabilities often remain excluded or underrepresented in development programmes and research. In this new episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast, researchers - whose articles have been published in the recent IDS Bulletin ‘Building disability inclusive futures’ - shed fresh light on the urgent need for disability‑inclusive development. The episode features journalist and broadcaster Paul Carter who interviews Amba Salelkar, Senior Manager, Programmes and Impact, International Disability Alliance, Dom Haslam, Deputy CEO, Sightsavers and Stephen Thompson, Research Fellow, IDS. As the Inclusive Futures programme draws to a close, contributors in this podcast hope the IDS Bulletin and the research will serve as both a record of learning and a call to action.

People in this episode

Host: Paul Carter

Guests: Amba Salelkar, Dom Haslam, Stephen Thompson

Topics covered

  • disability inclusion
  • development programmes
  • research
  • human experience
  • call to action
  • Inclusive Futures programme

Keywords

  • disability
  • inclusive development
  • research
  • human experience
  • IDS Bulletin
  • development
  • exclusion

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: International Disability Alliance, Sightsavers, Institute of Development Studies

Books & works: IDS Bulletin ‘Building disability inclusive futures’

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