The experiences of Palestinian Arabs with disabilities in Israel

• Date: 21 June 2023
• Pages: 41-54
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2023-0032
• Published date: 21 June 2023
• Author: Hira Amin,Leena Badran,Ayelet Gur,Michael Ashley Stein

The experiences of Palestinian

Arabs with disabilities in Israel

Hira Amin

College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

Leena Badran

University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Ayelet Gur

Tel-Hai College, Qiryat Shemona, Israel, and

Michael Ashley Stein

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

Purpose –Israel ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has

subsequently worked towards putting disability-empowering policies and facilities in place. This study

explores the experiences of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel with disabilities in everyday life including

education, employment and accessing disability facilities and services.

Design/methodology/approach –This study explores the challenges and experiences of Palestinian Arab

citizens of Israel through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a disparate group of Arab men andwomen

with various forms of disabilities.

Findings –This research indicates that Arabs with disabilities are either unable to access them or do so with

great difficulty relativeto their Jewish counterparts. The findings suggest that this is due to one of two reasons:

first is institutional discrimination by Jewish and Arab staff, and second is structural discrimination as

facilities and services are specifically designed for the Jewish majority and their areas of residence as opposed

to Arab residential areas.

Originality/value –Guided by intersectional theory, this article explores how the multiple identities of Arabs

with disabilities living in Israel are co-constitutedand ordered by different social and political structures which

inform their daily lived experiences. This research illustrates that in Jewish politics and institutions, Arabs with

disabilities in Israel are “otherised”by being flatly identified as Palestinians; yet, within their Arab

communities, they are “otherised”by being reduced solely to their disability. This article examines how this

variation in ordering and reduction can lead to specific experiences and forms of discrimination that requires

multi-dimensional approaches and ways forward.

Keywords Arabs with disabilities, Palestinians, Minority disability rights, Arabs in Israel, Intersectionality

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

It is estimated that about 33% of the Palestinian Arab population in Israel over the age of 20

are people with disabilities (Ministry of Law, 2021). Relative to the Jewish majority, Arabs

have a higher prevalence of several chronic diseases and higher incidences of disability and

functional impairments (Knesset Research and Information Center, 2017). Studies concur that

the prevalence rates of Arabs with disability in Israel are significantly higher than their

Jewish counterparts (CSF, 2020;Sandler-Loeff and Shahak, 2006). One study, for example,

claims that Arabs with disability account for 29% of the population compared to 17% of the

Jewish population and the difference is even starker when comparing those with severe

disability amongst the Arab population (14%) relative to the Jewish population (5%)

(Al-Manarah, 2013).

Arabs living in Israel are not a homogenous group. They are made up of diverse elements

ranging from city-dwellers to semi-nomadic Bedouins and are geographically divided located

predominantly in Israel’s geosocial periphery, characterised by low access to public

Palestinian

Arabs with

disabilities

in Israel

41

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 26 January 2023

Revised 12 April 2023

25 May 2023

Accepted 1 June 2023

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 1, 2024

pp. 41-54

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-01-2023-0032