Does anti-discrimination legislation matter in low-income countries? The impact of disability legislation on the educational attainment of children with disability

In many parts of the world, children with disabilities continue to face exclusion from education. This educational disparity is particularly pronounced in African countries, where disability legislation is often absent. In our sample, disability emerges as the strongest predictor of low educational attainment among children-more influential than severe poverty or low parental education. Despite increasing international attention to inclusive education, evidence on the impact of anti-discrimination legislation remains limited, and particularly for low-income settings. Existing literature has primarily focused on labor market outcomes in high-income countries, where the effects on employment have been mixed at best. Using individual-level data from ten African countries, we apply various difference-in-differences approaches to assess the impact of disability legislation on educational attainment. Our analysis shows that such legislation significantly increases school enrollment, attendance rates, and years of schooling. In most countries, anti-discrimination laws close at least half of the 30% disability gap in education observed in contexts lacking such protections. Furthermore, we find no adverse spillover effects on the schooling of younger, non-disabled siblings in countries that enacted the legislation. These findings highlight the transformative potential of legal protections in advancing educational equity for children with disabilities.