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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DOVCU Learning Brief 1: The effect of DOVCU’s integrated package of interventions on children and families at risk of separation

ChildFund International, 2018

This learning brief analyzes quantitative data from the first of the project’s stated objectives: examining the extent to which “Deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Uganda” (DOVCU) project interventions decrease vulnerabilities for households and children at risk of separation.

Enhancing Alternative Care Opportunities for Children with Disabilities in the Kingdom of Cambodia

ISS Australia, UNICEF, ISS, 2018

This report presents a needs assessment which provides a summary of the situation of children with disabilities who are living in residential care institutions and in communities in Cambodia and proposes seven key recommendations and relevant concrete actions for the short, medium and long term to improve the quality of care of children with disabilities living in institutions and to ensure that they have better access to basic services and are living in a protective environment.

Country Care Review: Denmark

Better Care Network, 10 Nov 2017

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on the Right of the Child at their recent examinations of Denmark's report.

Disabled Children in Out-of-Home Care: Issues and Challenges for Practice

Berni Kelly, Sandra Dowling, Karen Winter - The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies, 08 Nov 2017

This chapter discusses findings from a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of disabled children living in out-of-home care in th UK.

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Tubarerere mu Muryango (TMM) - Reintegrating children from institutions into families

UNICEF Rwanda, 16 Oct 2017

This video from UNICEF Rwanda shows some of the moving stories of children and their new families who have been brought together through the TMM initiative, which reintegrates children who have been living in institutions into families and the community.

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Community care for children with special needs

Better Care Network & Child's i Foundation, 10 Oct 2017

In this video, social worker Diana Nyakarungi describes how Ekisa Ministries in Jinja, Uganda supports parents to care for their children with special needs within the community.

Uganda Practitioner Learning Video Series

Better Care Network & Child's i Foundation, 01 Oct 2017

This video series from Better Care Network, in partnership with Child's i Foundation, highlights promising practices in children's care in Uganda.

UN CRPD General Comment No.5 (2017) on the right to live independently and being included in the community

UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , 29 Aug 2017

This document includes the general comments adopted by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Article 19 of the Convention: the right to live independently and being included in the community.

Country Care Review: Romania

Better Care Network , 13 Jul 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the seventy-fifth session (15 May 2017 - 02 Jun 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Country Care Review: Mongolia

Better Care Network, 12 Jul 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the seventy-fifth session (15 May 2017 - 2 Jun 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.