The article examines the close nexus between disability and poverty that renders the disabled people the poorest among the poor. It discusses psycho-social and environmental impediments which prevent active participation of the poor with disability in developmental programmes. In this context, the article particularly focuses on social exclusion which nourishes on negative attitudes, prejudices, stigma and discrimination, together with inaccessible physical environment. The poor with disabilities have remained passive targets and recipients, not stakeholders and participants, and as a result they hardly benefit from health, educational and employment schemes and are caught in a vicious downward spiral. It is argued that dealing with psycho-social and physical barriers is an important prerequisite for active participation of the poor with disabilities in the developmental programmes.
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