In childcare institutions (CCIs) in India, children with mild or moderate levels of disability are often placed with non-disabled children for care and protection. Generally, children with intellectual disability (ID), learning disability, hearing and speech impairment and multiple disabilities with ID are found to be living in these CCIs.
In this best practice article, the challenges faced by these children with disabilities and the potential for inclusion within the CCI are discussed based on the field action project intervention of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, with selected government CCIs. The article suggests a multi-pronged intervention approach for the Children with disability (CWD) at the levels of the individual CWD, peer group, CCI and the juvenile justice (JJ) System, which are together recognised as the stakeholders of an ‘inclusive ecosystem’. The article arrives at the ‘Inclusive Ecosystem Model of Rehabilitation’ by drawing from the individual–environment interaction model of disability.