It is often stated that disabled people in rural areas are among the poorest of the poor. Despite the majority of poor people living in rural areas there remains little research around the lives of disabled people in these areas. Limited research examines the multiple, often mutually reinforcing intersections and diversities within and between rurality and disability. In fact, much disability and development literature and practice conflates complex socio-spatial and political issues into narrow discourses of mainstreaming policy and strategies that are divorced from cultural values and meanings. We examine disability, identity and the meaning of the home and shed light on the ways in which socio-spatial processes can ‘lock’ disabled people in their place which is often at the bottom of social hierarchies and in feminized, domestic home spaces. We highlight the need for greater attention to the theoretical and practical household level politics of physical movement and local micro-geographies to ensure that disabled people are granted access to basic socio-economic resources and thereby meaningful livelihoods in a globalized world.