Children with Disabilities

A disability includes a physical impairment such as mobility, hearing, visual, and language difficulties, and developmental delays which affect a person’s behaviour, emotional expression, and learning abilities. It includes mild to severe disabilities, from cerebral palsy, paralysis and amputation, to blindness, deafness, autism, and dyslexia. Children may be born with an impairment, or develop one as a result of disease, abuse, or an injury, e.g. many children are the victims of shootings, bombings, and explosions in conflict affected areas.

The degree of disability a person experiences is frequently related to society’s adaptation to meet the needs of people with varying abilities. This is known as the social model of disability which highlights the role of the environment in reducing or increasing the ability of individuals to participate equally in everyday life. For example, a person in a wheelchair has the impairment of not being able to walk. The disability, however, may be that he cannot take up services due to a lack of building access. Protection workers must consider any additional needs or risk factors a person may have as a result of his impairment and disability. Children in developing countries are more vulnerable to disability since poverty and conflicts increase the incidence of impairments, and reduce the provision of necessary health, education, social services, and adaptive provisions to help include children of all abilities.

Children with impairments or special needs are highly vulnerable to discrimination, abandonment, abuse, exploitation, injury and death, since they are more reliant on the cooperation and support of others to meet their basic needs, and may be less able to express their wishes. In some cultures, children with special needs are actively excluded from participating in society since they may be viewed as a source of shame, or unworthy of care and protection.

Government policies should seek to reduce the incidence of injuries and diseases via adequate health care, including education, immunizations, nutrition, and sanitation. All programming and policies for children should promote the social inclusion of children with disabilities at every level. Children should benefit from the reduction of physical and social barriers, adaptation of services and/or rehabilitation assistance in order to enable them to participate as fully as possible in their communities. This includes family support, health facilities, access to education, and respite services to enable children to fulfill their potential. Children of all abilities must be empowered to express their views and to influence their own lives.

The resources in this section focus on children with disabilities in developing countries, and those affected by conflict. They highlight their vulnerability to exclusion and abuse, and provide examples of projects to address the needs of children with special needs.

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Study on the Feasibility of a Child Guarantee for Vulnerable Children: Inception Report

European Commission, 2019

This report - prepared for the European Commission by Applica and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), in close collaboration with Eurochild and Save the Children - provides a first mapping of the situation across the 28 Member States of the EU outlining the situation in relation to children, particularly the four target groups (TGs) of disadvantaged children (children in institutions, children with disabilities, children of recent migrants and refugees, and children living in precarious family situations) as well as an indication of the key issues in relation to children’s access to the five policy areas (PAs): housing, healthcare, nutrition, early childhood education and care, and education.

Unsafe and Uneducated: Indifference to Dangers in Pennsylvania’s Residential Child Welfare Facilities

Elissa Glucksman Hyne, Christina Wilson Remlin, Maura McInerney, Isabel Skilton, Genevieve Caffrey - Children’s Rights, 01 Dec 2018

This report is divided into two parts. Part A focuses on the dangers that occur at Pennsylvania’s residential facilities when the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (“PA-DHS”) fails to provide meaningful oversight. Part B provides background on child residents’ educational rights, details the inferior education that children at these residential facilities receive, especially those children with disabilities, and the devastating consequences.

Falling through the cracks: critical review of the deinstitutionalisation process in a post-socialist state

Kārlis Lakševics, Artūrs Pokšāns and Kristians Zalāns - Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 01 Nov 2018

Using the data from a a nationwide evaluation of accessibility of employment and education in Latvia, the authors of this paper argue that due to the fragmented implementation of deinstitutionalisation (DI) and lack of a child centred approach throughout the education sector, despite educators firmly believing they are acting in the best interests of children, current practices of care contribute to the creation of ‘inclusive exclusion’

Country Care Review: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Better Care Network, 29 Oct 2018

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Country Care Review: South Africa

Better Care Network, 23 Oct 2018

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Country Care Review: Bulgaria

Better Care Network, 22 Oct 2018

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Country Care Review: Philippines

Better Care Network , 16 Oct 2018

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Awareness within local authorities in England of autism spectrum diagnoses of looked-after children

Parsons, Sarah, McCullen, Alice, Emery, Tracey and Kovshoff, Hanna - British Educational Research Journal, 15 Oct 2018

This study sought to find out the current numbers of autistic Looked-After children formally recorded across local authorities in England, and whether their needs are given special attention via strategic planning and oversight, using Freedom of Information (FoI) requests sent to all local authorities in England.

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Needs of families of children with cerebral palsy in Bangladesh: A qualitative study

Reshma Parvin Nuri, Heather Michelle Aldersey, Setareh Ghahari - Child: care, health and development, 10 Oct 2018

In this study, the authors explored the needs of families of children with cerebral palsy in Bangladesh. Such understanding is important as it will help to improve services for children with disabilities and their families.

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Children and young people with intellectual disability in residential childcare: Prevalence of mental health disorders and therapeutic interventions

Alba Águila‐Otero, Carla González‐García, Amaia Bravo, Susana Lázaro‐Visa, Jorge F. del Valle - International Journal of Social Welfare, 09 Oct 2018

The main goal of this article was to explore the correlates of mental health diseases in a sample of 169 children with intellectual disability (6–18 years old) in residential care in Spain compared with a group of 625 children, also in residential care but without disability.

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