JHR CRITICAL RESEARCH AND PERSPECTIVES Published online 15 Nov 2019 at jhrehab.org 1 © Emory University; authors retain copyright for their original articles Finding Help: Exploring the Accounts of Persons With Disabilities in Western Zambia to Improve Their Situation By Shaun R. Cleaver, PT, PhD, Stephanie Nixon, PT, PhD, Virgina Bond, PhD, Lilian Magalhães, OT, PhD, Helene J. Polatajko, OT, PhD Abstract Background: Strategies proposed to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in the global South are not always developed in consideration of local contexts. Purpose: To explore and develop strategies to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in one context in the global South. Method: We recruited two groups of persons with disabilities in Western Zambia. Eighty-one disability- group members participated in focus-group discussions and individual interviews, with a North American rehabilitation professional, in which they discussed life with a disability and what should be done to improve their situation. The transcribed audio- recordings of the focus-group discussions and interviews were analyzed thematically. Results: The accounts of ways to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in this context were framed around a single theme: help (“kutusa” in Silozi). When expressed by participants in this research, help refers to gifts or grants of material resources from those with the means to share but influenced by the presentation of need by potential recipients. Help occurs in a relationship of expected compassion. Conclusion: Help is very different from formal strategies that are currently being promoted to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in the global South. Keywords: global South, postcolonial perspective, poverty, qualitative research, rehabilitation Introduction Disability: a global issue best addressed together with those who experience it. According to the World Health Organization, 1 there