Human Capital Accumulation of Disabled Children:Does Disability Really Matter?

Abstract

Although most of the world’s people with disabilities live in the developing countries, little is known of the consequences of disability in that part of the world. This study uses the Demographic Health Survey-National Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (DHS-MICS) 2011 data to assess the effect of child disability on education in Cameroon. This effect is also assessed both on school attendance and on school success, correlated with severity of disability. The research value added is that in the context of a lack of longitudinal data, the estimates of disability effects are corrected both for the endogeneity bias related to household and genetic unobservable variables by using a household and sibling fixed-effects model and for the simultaneity bias by including birth disability. The findings are that moderate and severe disabilities reduce by 9% and 42% the probability that a child attends school and by 8% and 55% respectively that he has ever attended school. Moderate disability and severe disability diminish school progress, showing that lower school attainment of children with disabilities is not only due to schooling access.