Disability & Society Vol. 24, No. 4, June 2009, 475–488 ISSN 0968-7599 print/ISSN 1360-0508 online © 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09687590902879106 http://www.informaworld.com Pity and pragmatism: understandings of disability in northeast Thailand Bhensri Naemiratch and Lenore Manderson* School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Australia Taylor and Francis CDSO_A_388082.sgm (Received 14 February 2008; final version received 8 July 2008) 10.1080/09687590902879106 Disability & Society 0968-7599 (print)/1360-0508 (online) Original Article 2009 Taylor & Francis 24 4 000000June 2009 PhD FASSA LenoreManderson Lenore.Manderson@med.monash.edu.au Cultural models of illness causation and treatment inform community understandings of and responses to disability. Data collected as part of a multi- country study, conducted in 2002–2007, illustrate how villagers from northeastern Thailand conceptualise disability (pikarn). Local understandings of causality are shaped by Buddhist beliefs in accumulated demerit, and this significantly influences attitudes towards illness, adversity and bodily states. Buddhist notions of love and compassion (metta and kurana) inform appropriate responses to people living with disabilities, while local distinctions of ability and disability inform expressions of sympathy and/or pity (songsarn), with implications for the social participation of people with a disability. Keywords: Thailand; causality; cultural values; disability; sympathy Introduction I am poor. I have no home. Dear listeners, pity me. I wander around like a beggar singing for a little change to survive. In the past, I had many friends, lots of money. I was (a member of the) nouveau riche. Now, the many friends I had are gone. Since the accident, I have become disabled. I’m disabled, but I’m a good man. May I entrust you with my charming songs on days when you feel sad or lonely let me calm you with the songs of a good disabled man. (Sergeant Sathid, 11 February 2007) Improvements in surgery and the medical management of various conditions affecting health and function have dramatically enhanced life expectancies in recent decades, but many people must subsequently find ways to live in hostile physical, social and cultural environments. The need to protect the rights of people with disabilities through legislative, administrative and service means was finally acknowledged formally with the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention on the *Corresponding author. Email: lenore.manderson@med.monash.edu.au