Jakarta. The exclusion of persons with disabilities can take a toll on a country’s economy, according to the US Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Sara Minkara during her visit to Indonesia on Saturday.

Minkara said a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) could suffer a 7 percent loss if it failed to include persons with disabilities within its economy. Although it is possible that the economic loss could be even greater. 

“If we take a high level view, the disability community represents 17 percent of the world’s population. That percentage can be higher in certain spaces and countries,” Minkara told the press at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta over the weekend.

“Excluding [persons with disabilities] will impact our GDP by 7 percent, but I think it is more than that,” she said.

Minkara also told reporters that leaving out the persons with disabilities from the economy would mean the exclusion of their contribution and value. 

“By excluding the disability community from contributing to the economy, … we are not tapping into their innovations. We are also creating a system of more dependency and burdens, instead of a system of empowering contribution, value, and inclusion,” Minkara said.

Government data shows that Indonesia has 22.97 million persons with disabilities. This accounts for approximately 8.5 percent of the country’s total population. The Indonesian disability community is mainly elders. According to Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah, only 7.04 million persons with disabilities have jobs as of 2021, marking a decline from 7.67 million people in 2020. The minister attributed the declining employment rate among persons with disabilities to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indonesia posted an economic growth of 5.31 percent in 2022. Bank Indonesia predicts the country’s GDP is forecast to grow between 4.5 and 5.3 percent this year. 

Minkara is scheduled to attend the first-ever ASEAN-US High-Level Dialogue on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during her Indonesia trip.