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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Straightjackets and Seclusion: an investigation into abuse and neglect of children and adults with disabilities in Hungary

Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC), 10 May 2017

This report by the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) in Hungary contains information collected during visits to Topház between 15 February 2017 and 18 April 2017 by an MDAC team with expertise in law, human rights, disability rights, specia

Country Care Review: Armenia

Better Care Network, 08 May 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the seventeenth session (20 March 2017 - 12 April 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Country Care Review: Canada

Better Care Network , 08 May 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the seventeenth session (20 Mar 2017 – 12 Apr 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Country Care Review: Honduras

Better Care Network, 04 May 2017

The Charm Toolkit Piloted Findings from Monitoring Visits: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and United Kingdom

Dr Sarah Woodin - Mental Disability Advocacy Centre, Ann Craft Trust, Global Initiative on Psychiatry, The League of Human Rights , 01 May 2017

This report is one of several outputs arising from the project “Identifying and Preventing Abuse of Children with Mental Disabilities in Institutions.” The report presents findings from the monitoring of European institutions where children with intellectual disabilities and children with psychosocial disabilities live on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, through the development of tools and guidance aligned with international human rights law and policy.

The sexuality of young women with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A neglected focus in the American foster care system

Michelle S. Ballan, Molly Burke Freyer - Disability and Health Journal, 05 Apr 2017

This article explores sexuality education and sexual healthcare for female adolescents in foster care with ID/DD and recommends practice guidelines to support and prepare their emergent sexual development.

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A review of feeding interventions for children with disabilities: Implications for institutionalised settings

Paula Rabaey - International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 01 Apr 2017

This literature review looks at the most current interventions on safe feeding practices for children with neuromotor disabilities who cannot feed themselves.

Preventing Unnecessary Loss of Parental or Family Care in Brazil, Guyana, India, South Africa, and Russia

Joanna Rogers - Family for Every Child, 01 Apr 2017

This report presents the findings from a study that aimed to explore the application in practice of the ‘necessity principle’ from the Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children (UN, 2009) by using three quantitative and three qualitative indicators that provide information about whether children and families have received support to the fullest extent possible before a child ends up outside of parental care arrangements in formal or informal care, or living alone.

Emotional Health and Self-esteem Among Adolescents in Malaysian Orphanages

Marjan Mohammadzadeh, Hamidin Awang, Hayati Kadir Shahar, Suriani Ismail – Community Mental Health Journal, 18 Mar 2017

This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of depression, anxiety, stress and low self-esteem among institutional Malaysian adolescents.

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After the Fire: Survivors of Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción at risk – Findings and Recommendations for Action

Disability Rights International, 15 Mar 2017

DRI’s main finding is that survivors of the fire at Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción face immediate danger – including detention in other institutions where they face continued segregation and abuse.