Disability, work, and aspirations within the Pakistani context: an agency-oriented capability perspective

This thesis investigates the work and broader life aspirations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Pakistan and the mediating role of contextual factors, adopting an agency-oriented Capability Approach within a critical realist paradigm. It examines how capabilities, agency, and structural conditions intersect in shaping lives and opportunities, with particular attention to work as a central pathway to dignity and inclusion. The study demonstrates how structural constraints – embedded in personal, contextual, and institutional dynamics – restrict the translation of aspirations, including employment aspirations, into real freedoms, while also highlighting enabling factors that foster resilience and agency. By deepening understanding of the interplay between aspirations, agency, and structural conditions, the research contributes to the Capability Approach. It provides critical insights for disability policy and practice in the Global South, with specific implications for inclusive employment and human resource practices for persons with disabilities, while underscoring the need to address disabling structures and foster agency and collective empowerment.