Poverty and Disability highlights the growing emphasis on fighting poverty in international development and the successes of the disability community in putting its issues on the global agenda. The volume spans 11 chapters and brings together a variety of different perspectives and authors from around the world. The editors state that the book has two goals: first, understanding that poverty is multifaceted, and second, that disability is about fighting for social justice (p. 15). Yet, despite such broad aims, I felt that the book focused mainly on how to combat poverty in the global south.

The first two chapters are mostly theoretical and try to set the stage for the chapters that follow. Chapter 2, by Roger C. Riddell, begins with an analysis of "Poverty, Disability and Aid: International Development Cooperation," and explains the background needed to comprehend debates about disability and poverty in general. A large part of this chapter deals with how international development aid works and the growing importance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Their influence is illustrated, as are their problems with donors, funding, and transparency of services provided. For example, there are almost no official statistics for how much aid goes to disability services or disabled people. After elucidating these issues, Riddell concludes that providing more aid alone will not make enough of an impact and that policy changes are also needed.

Likewise, legislative change alone is not enough, which is what Chapter 3 on "Mainstreaming and Inclusive Development," tackles. The author, Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, argues that legislative change needs to go hand-in-hand with disability mainstreaming. The United Kingdom's Department for International Development's (DFID) "twin track approach" (p. 112) is taken as an example of best practice, "whereby DFID would fund projects specifically targeted at disabled people, as well as encouraging mainstream development projects to incorporate a disability component" (p. 112). Like gender mainstreaming, disability mainstreaming seeks to promote disability equality and inclusion in all development aid projects and cooperation. However, taking into account current scholarship on disability and poverty (see, for example, Barnes and Sheldon, 2010), I am not convinced that legislative change will have the effects described by McClain-Nhlapo. This chapter would benefit from a more detailed analysis concerning how exactly the United Nations's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) would be enforced through policy.

Chapter 4 by Bob Ransom, "Lifelong Learning in Education, Training and Skills Development," examines the acquisition of formal and non-formal skills. It elucidates some of the strengths and weaknesses of the differing training options, including specialised institutions. Particularly useful are the case studies offered in this chapter: for example, a case study from Cambodia focusing on peer-training and another from Ethiopia on how to develop entrepreneurship amongst women. Some of the advantages and drawbacks of having specialised training centres are examined, as well as giving a successful example from the Caribbean.

Chapter 5, by Peter Coleridge and Balakrishna Venkatesh, "Community Approaches to Livelihood Development," is one of the most critical in its analysis, in that it explicitly states that it is economics that lies behind development and not social justice (p. 177). The authors show how self-help groups (SHG) were grass-roots movements based on thinkers from the global south, like Gandi and Freire. This illustrates the importance of disabled people working together to begin a social movement in order to gain a place in their local societies. Yet, without unity and sheer force of numbers, disabled people's issues will not get on the agenda nor be viewed as sufficiently populist even for local politicians. Thus, chapter 5 also brings up important concerns linked to self-help groups within a wider global context. Coleridge and Venkatesh warn that disabled people's movements and groups are open to financial persuasion and thus their values and norms can be eroded, as it is now the market and neo-liberal donors that dictate interventions.

This warning is particularly urgent due to the growing influence of financial institutions and organisations, as Enzo Martinelli and Roy Mersland's chapter dealing with microfinance explains. Martinelli and Mersland show how some of the UN tools in microfinance exclude people with disabilities, and identify strategies to improve the current situation. According to the authors, most problems can be linked to lack of access and resources, but they also note that there are issues related to financial knowledge, training and funding. The section on the history of microfinance and savings clubs gives a useful overview of how political and economic issues became interlinked in development. The chapter ends with some pros and cons of microfinance generally and the barriers that lead exclusion of disabled people from such services. Yet, the authors also state that people have other forms of savings such as children or livestock which help with their social inclusion and protection. In this respect, I felt that the authors were right in stating that more empirical evidence was needed to explore the pros and cons for disabled people entering microfinance.

One of the issues raised by Martinelli and Mersland in chapter 6, "self-esteem," is also a key topic in Chapter 7, by Bev Moodie, which argues that self-esteem changes with both unsuccessful and successful employment. Its case studies illustrate the importance of support, training and some of the psychological pitfalls and barriers to becoming an entrepreneur. For example, learning to deal with rejection and adapting a product to the needs of the marketplace is often something that people in sheltered employment have not always dealt with. Moodie describes how homes, centres and workshops can learn to adapt to a changing market and ensure these skills (p. 276). The chapter concludes by offering insights to how to develop and recognize appropriate skills for self-employment within an increasingly competitive marketplace.

In terms of moving policy towards real inclusion, I thought chapter 8 on "Waged Employment," by Javed Abidi, was excellent because it illustrates the political actions needed to ensure social changes. It argues that poverty is multi-faceted; thus, to ensure employment, not only legislation needs to change, but so do access, education and awareness (p. 307). Abidi offers a concrete study of the actions needed.

"Social Protection and Disability," by Daniel Mont, also looks at problems of access for disabled people, asking how social protection programmes can be made more inclusive. This chapter focuses on different kinds of cash-transfers and their potential future uses. For example, Mont describes conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs, which are fairly new in terms of provision of social assistance. They are conditional but also prescriptive, in the sense that they require participation in health, educational, nutritional or even agricultural programs. This chapter makes the important point that eligibility for social protection is still mainly medical, and in this sense is based on a medical and individual model of disability. Mont also points out that giving people cash benefits can sometimes act as a disincentive to work.

Also innovative is chapter 10, "Disability and Poverty in Post-Conflict Countries," by Maria Kett. This chapter examines the consequences of conflict in three countries: Sudan, Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone. Kett sets out how little academics actually know about the issues facing people after a conflict, or even a disaster or emergency. Focusing on the difference between needs- and rights-based models, Kett argues that many NGOs still operate according to charity model, which promotes segregation, especially after a conflict or disaster.

The final chapter, Rosangela Berman-Bieler's "Inclusive Development," looks at the possibilities of the CRPD and its links to the social model of disability. She argues for a more inclusive conception of development and research to improve everyone's quality of life. Berman-Bieler takes a life-course approach to disability, noting that while there has been significant scientific and technological progress, ensuring that people live longer, the lack of adequate maternal and child care in many places in the world still means that people die or become disabled (p. 382). Berman-Bieler also points out that an economic and urban boom in developing countries may signify new forms of disability, such as those caused by accidents and domestic violence. The impact of these demographical and epidemiological changes implies broader social needs, for example, for more universal design.

Taken together, the chapters of Poverty and Disability are successful in creating an interdisciplinary dialogue on this topic. Overall, the authors argue that poverty is multifaceted, generational and gendered, and to tackle it, a diversified approach is needed. Among the strategies the authors point to are legislative change and disability mainstreaming. Yet, the book also points to disability as being socially constructed and emphasizes the need for social movements and political action. Thus, its primary argument is "both-and": both policy changes and grassroots action are needed.

Poverty and Disability contains a significant bias towards employment as the sole means to "contributing" to society, which devalues those who are non- or unconventionally employed. I would argue that issues of social justice, such as access to basic services, should remain on the global political agenda. Moreover, as a reader I felt that mental health issues in a global perspective were rather neglected in this volume, as were the religious, cultural and socio-economic resources that people use in fostering social integration. Along with legislative change and disability mainstreaming, researchers and campaigners should not forget political action for social justice, mental health issues and that many people with disabilities, while poor, are socially included. The fact that most of the chapters in Poverty and Disability are framed within an economic language illustrates that further critical reflection and research are needed.