“Machetear” : Surviving disability through mendicity in the North of Chile

Publication date: January–March 2018Source: Alter, Volume 12, Issue 1Author(s): Carolina FerranteAbstractIn Antofagasta, Chile's Second Region, located at the North of the country and possessing the highest salaries throughout the country, there are many people with physical disabilities that resort to mendicity, which is a survival strategy locally known as “machetear.” According to spontaneous sociology, this scene is explained through cultural and moral protagonism that creates “solidarity” towards people with disabilities in Chile. Even though this country has endorsed international human rights treaties, handouts and this generous disposition towards people with disabilities have not been subjected to exclusive problematization within a thematic unit. While reporting the results of a qualitative research carried out in this space, this article analyses the social conditions regarding the possibility of this interaction and identifies the perceptions and dispositions awakened by a disabled body begging within a community. It also makes the denigrating effects of these social responses towards ways of living with a disability visible. The corpus comprises content analysis of the main disability laws, non-participant observations of interactions and 47 semi-structured interviews with people possessing physical disabilities that live through mendicity in the region, which are the key actors as regards disability, and who Chileans who donate alms or not.RésuméSitu...

Source: ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research - July 5, 2018 Category: Disability Source Type: research