The Role of Social Capital for Preventing Discrimination of People Living with a Disability in Bangladesh

Social capital has been associated with several socioeconomic outcomes. However, the mechanisms explaining these links are less
known. We propose to study how social capital affects the risk of discrimination among people living with disabilities in Bangladesh.
Several studies have shown that people living with disabilities have worse general health, lower educational outcomes, and reduced
chances of getting a job. Moreover, disabled people have been shown to be discriminated against in these and other contexts. The
main outcome variables of the study are discrimination in health care, education, and the labor market. The study will include two
surveys to collect information on social capital both on community and individual levels. Along with data on other important factors,
that may also affect the risk of discrimination of people with disabilities, we will analyze these data by means of multilevel statistical
methods. The expected results will give estimates of the role of social capital for the risk of discrimination among men and women
while controlling for other relevant factors. There is little evidence on how to improve the situation of disabled people at the level of
communities. However, several studies have shown that social capital can be enhanced through various policy interventions. The
results of this study may be used to develop interventions that strengthen the situation of people with disabilities in terms of access
to health care, education and employment.