A long road to financial inclusion for low-income people with disabilities in Indonesia

• by Jilan Jauhara
• Jul 6, 2025
• 5 min

People with disabilities in Indonesia face major barriers to financial access due to inaccessible services, low income, and lack of assistive tools. This leads to dependency and exclusion, especially for women and older adults. Inclusive design and accessible solutions are essential for true financial inclusion.

Ade, a 23-year-old woman with visual impairments from Indonesia, has been struggling to replace her expired debit card at a bank branch. The bank has no Braille documents and lacks procedures to support independent access for people with disabilities (PwDs). The bank staff asks her to come back to the bank with someone she trusts, which she finds difficult. Instead of adequately accommodating or addressing the accessibility gap, the banks fail to include PwDs like her in the financial system.

In this blog, we explore how the intersection of disability and poverty creates layered barriers to financial inclusion. It draws on field insights from a disability inclusion study conducted by MicroSave Consulting (MSC), in collaboration with Opportunity International Australia (OIA). The study was a joint initiative funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

How do non-inclusive services drive dependency?

Non-inclusive services present a significant barrier for PwDs who attempt to access financial products and services. Most financial institutions have failed to meet their needs around communication, physical, or digital access. As a result, basic activities, such as opening an account or replacing a card, require aid from family or friends. The story of 23-year-old Ade tells the challenges PwDs face in financial inclusion. Eventually, she had to reapply for an expired debit card and now avoids going to the bank altogether.

Often, PwDs are afterthoughts in Indonesia’s financial inclusion system, even when they make up 1.4 % of Indonesia’s population, or around 4 million people. Whether it is access to simple financial services, regular usage, or the quality of financial services, PwDs face persistent exclusion. Only 24.3% of PwDs in Indonesia have a bank account, compared to 47% of those without disabilities. Usage of digital financial services is even lower for PwDs, as only 1.1% of them have used the Internet to access financial services.

Such exclusion has a direct correlation to income disparities, as 55% of PwDs belong to low-income backgrounds. In Indonesia, they earn an average of just IDR 1.3 million (~USD 80.25) per month, and 69% work in the informal sector. The vulnerabilities PwDs face increase during times of crisis. As an example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, about 41% were classified as vulnerable to falling deeper into poverty. A 30-80% income drop was identified compared to their pre-pandemic incomes, below IDR 1 million (~USD 61.73).

How are digital finance services not yet universally inclusive?

While digital financial services may have reduced Ade’s visits to physical bank branches, such services are not inclusively designed. She faces other barriers when she tries to complete the electronic know your customer (e-KYC) process. The live detection feature, which requires users to move their head in specific directions or blink on command, was difficult for her due to her visual impairment. She had to repeat the process multiple times before she completed it.

People with intellectual disabilities or low literacy levels face even greater barriers when they use digital financial services. Complex steps like e-KYC can be confusing without simple instructions, clear language, or intuitive navigation. Features, such as voice guides, screen readers, or alt text for buttons, can make these services more accessible for people with disabilities.

Limited education and communication create dependency

Access to financial services is even more difficult for people with disabilities from low-income backgrounds, many of whom have had limited educational opportunities. They are often never enrolled in special education programs, where they could have learned sign language or Braille. This limits how well they can interact with formal systems or navigate them.

The challenges are even more acute for individuals who developed disabilities later in life due to aging. While age-related impairments are common across income levels, older adults from low-income households face greater barriers. With limited education, they struggle to adapt to new conditions or learn assistive tools and systems that would help them access financial services. As a result, many low-income PwDs, especially older adults, often must rely on others when using financial services.

In Bogor Regency, Macih, a 64-year-old homemaker with visual impairments, participates in a group lending arrangement provided by a formal microfinance institution (MFIs). Based on the Grameen model, small groups of women meet weekly at a member’s home. During these meetings, a field officer facilitates savings deposits, withdrawals, loan applications, and repayments. Macih relies on her husband to manage the paperwork involved in financial transactions. He reads the documents to her and helps her sign them, as she had completed only elementary school and never had the opportunity to learn Braille.

Another participant in the same lending group arrangement is 66-year-old Iroh, an agricultural worker who relies on others for support. Her hearing impairment developed due to old age, and she never learned Bisindo, the Indonesian sign language. She sees little point in doing so now, as no one around her uses it. She struggles to learn at her age and relies on a fellow group member to communicate with the field officer.

Assistive tools fail to be prioritized, especially for women

Access to assistive tools, such as hearing aids, walking sticks, or wheelchairs, is also a challenge for many low-income PwDs. These tools are often too expensive, and when daily survival is at stake, they are not prioritized. This especially applies to women, who put family needs above their own.

Hana, a 56-year-old nasi uduk seller, has had difficulty walking since childhood. In recent years, she has only received a prosthetic leg through a government aid program. When asked if she would have taken a loan to buy it, she shared that she preferred to support her small business and daily needs. However, day-to-day life stays difficult without such tools, which include seemingly simple tasks, such as a visit to an ATM.

Low earnings keep formal finance out of reach

Around 69% of PwDs are engaged in the informal sector and earn just enough to meet daily needs. As a result, financial products that may seem affordable to non-disabled people can still be out of reach for low-income people with disabilities. For instance, opening or maintaining a savings account is difficult, as it typically requires a minimum of IDR 20,000 to open and IDR 10,000 (~ USD 1.23 to ~ USD 0.61) to deposit. For these people, formal financial services can be entirely inaccessible when combined with transportation costs, physical effort, and the fear of being turned away or needing assistance.

The way forward

The layered challenges that PwDs face when they seek access to financial services make the design of inclusive financial products more complex. Inclusive solutions must be genuinely expanded, not merely provided as a formality. They must address the real barriers that PwDs, especially those from low-income backgrounds, face every day.

Assistive technologies should be easy to use and accessible to low-income users with disabilities. They should be included early in the design of products and services so their real needs align with what is offered. In the long term, efforts should expand affordable access to tools and training that help people with disabilities use financial services independently.

At its core, financial inclusion is to ensure everyone can access and use financial products and services. PwDs, especially those from low-income communities, have been left out of the financial inclusion landscape for too long. To fully achieve true financial inclusion, the layered challenges they face must be recognized and responded to. Only then can financial products and services become truly inclusive for all.

This article was first published on Inside Indonesia platform on August 1st, 2025