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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Disability, Rehabilitation, and Inclusion
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1236365

Counting the costs: Understanding the extra costs of living with disability in Indonesia to advance inclusive policies within the SDG framework

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 2 Other, Jakarta, Indonesia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as a valuable and multidimensional framework for monitoring progress on disability inclusion over time and among countries where reliable, disability disaggregated data is available. However, the SDGs alone do not provide insights into the causes of the social and economic disparities that people with disabilities face or offer specific policy solutions to alleviate them. This paper focuses on understanding the extra costs of living with disability in Indonesia to advance the country's commitment to further the rights of people with disabilities. It utilizes three primary estimation methods, combining an analyses of national survey data with primary data from interviews and focus group discussions. Findings reveal significant and varying costs based on disability type, severity and life cycle stages. It also highlights the unaffordability of these costs for most individuals with disabilities and their families. Leveraging these estimates, the paper proposes 'disability concessions' aligned with Indonesia's legal framework on disability inclusion, aiming to alleviate financial burdens through discounts across health, education, utilities and transportation. By contributing to methodological approaches in understanding extra costs of living with disability inclusion in emerging country context and promoting discussions on leveraging the results for disability inclusive policymaking, this paper supplements the SDG framework to foster disability inclusion.

    Keywords: sustainable development goals1, disability inclusion2, extra costs of living with disability3, Indonesia4, disability concessions5

    Received: 07 Jun 2023; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Utomo, Bastias, Sijapati Basnett, Prasetyo and Nasiir. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Desi D. Bastias, Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
    Mercoledi Nasiir, Other, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.