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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National Council on Disability: Deinstitutionalization Toolkit

National Council on Disability, 2012

The Deinstitutionalization Toolkit is designed to provide all those interested in institutional closures and expanded community living opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) with information, strategies, state data, and case studies that can facilitate closure and build community capacity to serve more people with ID/DD in the community. It covers topics such as building a broad-based coalition, understanding and working within the political environment, creating a community system of care, and relevant laws, policies, and court decisions.

View Toolkit

TransMonEE 2012 - key features

TransMonEE (Transformative Monitoring for Enhanced Equity), 2012

TransMonEE is a database that captures a vast range of data on social and economic issues relevant to the situation and wellbeing of children, adolescents and women in 28 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States and the European Union. This document includes inter-country comparisons of data on several issues related to children’s care.

Prakas on Procedures to Implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children (Cambodia)

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, Kingdom of Cambodia, 01 Oct 2011

This Prakas is intended to define roles and responsibilities of relevant competent agencies and establish procedures, operational guides, and forms to implement the Policy on Alternative Care for Children.

Abandoned & Disappeared: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities

Disability Rights International and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, 01 Jun 2011

This report is the product of a year-long investigation and collaboration between Disability Rights International (DRI) and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH). From August 2009 through September 2010, DRI and the CMDPDH investigated psychiatric institutions, orphanages, shelters, and other public facilities that house children and adults with disabilities.

Independent Assessment of the Deinstitutionalisation Process in Georgia

Andrew A. Dunn, 01 Jun 2011

This independent assessment examined, specifically, the deinstitutionalisation of children in special education boarding schools and child care institutions in the Republic of Georgia.

Summary Report of the Fourth CSO Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC)

Fourth CSO Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 13 May 2011

The following recommendations were made to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in relation to children without appropriate care.

Violence Against Children in State-Run Residential Institutions in Kazakhstan: An Assessment

Robin N. Haarr , 01 May 2011

This study on violence against children in state-run residential institutions in Kazakhstan was conducted under the national Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF. Data was collected from six different types of state run- residential institutions for children in 3 regions using a multi-methods approach, including surveys with children ( 9-18 years old) and staffs, and interviews with young people (17-23 years old) who had left the care of these institutions.

Children with Disabilities in Uganda: The Hidden Reality

The African Child Policy Forum, 2011

Children with disabilities in Africa are among the most neglected groups in the policy domain as well as in the private sphere. The majority of these children face enormous economic, political, and social barriers that have an adverse impact on their physical, social and intellectual development and wellbeing.

HOTĂRÎRE Nr. 523: cu privire la aprobarea Programului de dezvoltare a educaţiei incluzive în Republica Moldova pentru anii 2011-2020

Republic of Moldova, 2011

În scopul realizării prevederilor Convenţiei Internaţionale cu privire la drepturile copilului, la care Republica Moldova a aderat prin Hotărîrea Parlamentului nr.408-XII din 12 decembrie 1990, Convenţiei Organizaţiei Naţiunilor Unite privind drep

Advocacy Package: IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group, 2011

This Advocacy Package explains what the IASC guidelines are and how they are to be used, highlights the key campaigning activities, key messages for communities, donors, UN Agencies and Non-Governmental organisations, clarifies terminology and provide ideas for country level implementation.