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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Country Care Review: Bangladesh

Better Care Network, 29 Oct 2015

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

Country Care Review: Kazakhstan

Better Care Network, 29 Oct 2015

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

We All Need Families at the End of the Day - Special Care

Better Care Network and UNICEF, 23 Sep 2015

This video gives an inside look at an assisted family setting in Ghana where children with disabilities live with their foster mothers. It highlights the increased risk of family separation faced by children with special needs and advocates for the provision of quality family-based care to children who cannot be with their parents or extended families.

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We All Need Families at the End of the Day

Better Care Network and UNICEF, 22 Sep 2015

This video is presented by Better Care Network and UNICEF. It tells the story of Maureen, a young girl in Kenya who was separated from her family and sent to live in a children's home. It also features interviews with experts, including those who have lived in children's homes, explaining some of the negative impacts of institutionalization and highlights the efforts of Care Reform Initiatives to deinstitutionalize children in Kenya and Ghana.

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Children Need Families Not Orphanages

Lumos, 04 Sep 2015

This animated video from Lumos, narrated by Lumos founder J.K. Rowling, illustrates the “tragic consequences of orphanage care,” and argues that more can and should be done to support families to care for their children, eliminating the use of institutional care.

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The Visionaries: “No One Left Behind”

The Visionaries, 26 Aug 2015

Visionaries, a documentary series on public television in the United States, aired two episodes featuring the work of Disability Rights International (DRI) in uncovering the egregious abuses suffered by children and adults with disabilities living in institutions around the world.

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Nobody is Allowed to Harm You: A Book for Children and Young People to Help Them Understand What Abuse and Neglect Means (Serbian)

Club for Healthy Changes, Lumos, Centre for Social Preventive Activities GRiG & Child Rights Centre, 29 Jul 2015

This book is designed to help children and young people understand what abuse and neglect are, and who to ask for help if it happens to them or to someone they know. The book is written in the Serbian context and is available in English and Serbian.

Nobody is Allowed to Harm You: A Book for Children and Young People to Help Them Understand What Abuse and Neglect Means

Club for Healthy Changes, Lumos, Centre for Social Preventive Activities GRiG & Child Rights Centre, 29 Jul 2015

No Justice: Torture, Trafficking and Segregation in Mexico

Disability Rights International, 22 Jul 2015

This report from Disability Rights International (DRI) outlines the findings from a two-year investigation into the treatment of children and adults with mental disabilities in Mexico City, particularly those in the care of state-funded and private residential facilities.

The Vital Few foster parents: Replication and extension

John G. Orme, Donna J. Cherry - Children and Youth Services Review, 11 Jun 2015

This study replicated and extended previous research which identified the small proportion of highly productive foster parents who provide a disproportionate amount of care in the United States. This study used a nationally representative sample of foster families (N = 876) with a focus on willingness to foster, and actually fostering, children with special needs.

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