Developing Disability-Inclusive Programs to Empower Farmers: Lessons Learned from AgrAbility

Authors

Nesma Osman, aAgricultural Education, Leadership, and Communications, Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA; b Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA; c Rural Sociology and Agricultural Extension Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Arab Republic of EgyptFollow
Thomas Archibald, Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA
Donna J. Peterson, Agricultural Education, Leadership, and Communications, Mississippi State University, Starkville, USA

Keywords

Program development, AgrAbility, Disability, Farming, Social Justice

Abstract

Disabilities have profound effects on farm households. Establishing disability-inclusive programs will improve the well-being and quality of life of farmers with disabilities and their communities; in turn, this will accelerate efforts to achieve social justice. A qualitative approach was employed to identify and aggregate essential strategies used by seven AgrAbility states for developing disability-inclusive programs and to explore how social, political, and ethical stances are addressed or enacted within AgrAbility's planning processes. The findings laid a foundational framework that could serve as a catalyst to answer the following question: 'To what extent can the social, political, and ethical domains be addressed or enacted within the development of programs serving farmers with disabilities?' The framework, based on AgrAbility states' strategies, can serve as an initial source for other extension agents and program planners in U.S. states and countries that do not have AgrAbility but are interested in developing disability-inclusive programs.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Osman, N., Archibald, T., & Peterson, D. J. (2025). Developing Disability-Inclusive Programs to Empower Farmers: Lessons Learned from AgrAbility. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 32(2), 284-302. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4148/2831-5960.1480