Ethiopia

Background

Ethiopia is in east-central Africa, bordered on the west by Sudan, the east by Somalia and Djibouti, the south by Kenya, and the northeast by Eritrea. It has several high mountains, the highest of which is Ras Dashan at 15,158 ft (4,620 m). The Blue Nile, or Abbai, rises in the northwest and flows in a great semicircle before entering the Sudan. Its chief reservoir, Lake Tana, lies in the northwest. Ethiopia is sub-Saharan Africa's oldest state, and its Solomonic dynasty claims descent from King Menelik I, traditionally believed to have been the son of the queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The current nation is a consolidation of smaller kingdoms that owed feudal allegiance to the Ethiopian emperor.

In Ethiopia, "A disabled person is any person unable to ensure by himself or herself a normal life, as a result of deficiency in his or her physical or mental capabilities"
According to the "Nagarit Gazeta" newspaper, the Emperor Haile Selassie I, in the Order No. 70 of 1970, described 'disabled people' as people who, because of limitations of normal physical or mental health, are unable to earn their livelihood and do not have anyone to support them; including any persons who are unable to earn their livelihood because they are too young or too old. Some statistics were compiled on disabilities. The 1984 census focused on relevant information on disabilities, but did not include disability-related data by location, cause, and facilities.