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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Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization, Including in Emergencies (2022)

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 09 Sep 2022

These guidelines complement the Committee’s General Comment No. 5 (2017) and its guidelines on the right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities. They are intended to guide and support States parties, in their efforts to realize the right of persons with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community, and to be the basis for planning deinstitutionalization processes and prevention of institutionalization.

Resisting Calls to Invest in Institutions – a Discussion With Funders, Policymakers and DPOs

European Network on Independent Living - ENIL, 27 Aug 2022

This COSP 15 side event was organised by ENIL, in cooperation with Disability Rights Defenders. It addressed the issue of increasing segregation of persons with disabilities in institutions as a result of the war in Ukraine, despite lessons learned during COVID. It focused on the role of the funders in the humanitarian response and the post-war recovery, urging for full compliance with the UN CRPD and ensuring that no funding goes towards institutionalisation of persons with disabilities.

Case Story of Transition: Transition of Residential Care for Children with Disabilities - Returning to the Original Vision of Community-Based Care

Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC), 23 Aug 2022

The Returning to Original Vision case story demonstrates reunification of children with disabilities as a critical step in transition. It also highlights the challenges of maintaining organizational vision within a process of transforming services.

Addressing the Situation of Children with Disabilities in Residential Care as Part of the Ukraine Response

Better Care Network, Disability Rights International (DRI), 07 Jul 2022

On 7 July 2022, the Better Care Network (BCN) and Disability Rights International (DRI) organised an event with disability and child protection actors focused on the situation of children with disabilities in residential care in Ukraine (including those children who have been returned to families or evacuated from facilities since 24 February 2022).

ENIL/DRI Webinar on Children With Disabilities From Ukraine’s Institutions (Launch of DRI report)

European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), Disability Rights International (DRI), 06 May 2022

There were an estimated 100,000 children in Ukraine’s institutions before Russia’s war on Ukraine which began in February 2022.

Left Behind in the War: Dangers Facing Children with Disabilities In Ukraine’s Orphanages

Disability Rights International, 05 May 2022

Disability Rights International (DRI) published these recommendations in response to a visit to Ukraine’s institutions for children with disabilities in late April 2022. DRI visited three facilities for children aged six to adult, and one “baby” home for children from birth to age six.

DRI found that Ukraine’s children with disabilities with the greatest support needs are living in atrocious conditions – entirely overlooked by major international relief agencies and receiving little support from abroad.

Review Framework for Disability Mainstreaming in Parenting Resources

Catholic Relief Services (CRS), 19 Apr 2022

This Framework for Disability Mainstreaming in Parenting Resources is a tool to help organizations and practitioners to review existing parenting resources in terms of information and content gaps, limitations of instructional guidance, and at-home activities. The aim of the framework is to ensure parenting resources are inclusive of the needs of parents of children with disabilities ages 0 to 17 years.

Shadow Report on the Implementation of the CRPD in the European Union

European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), 25 Mar 2022

This video explains the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the European Union. The Committee is checking if the EU made progress in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities since 2015. The European Network on on Independent Living (ENIL) submitted a shadow report to the Committee. This video explains what you can find in ENIL's shadow report.

Shadow Report on the Implementation of the CRPD in the European Union

European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), 25 Mar 2022

Children with Disabilities in Zambia: Households with Children with Disabilities in Zambia Face Hardships on Food Access and Dietary Diversity

Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) Zambia, St Catherine's University, SPOON, 24 Mar 2022

This summary report by Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) Zambia and St Catherine's University reports the impact of COVID-19 on the ability of families of children with disabilities to access adequate food. These households named educational and nutritional services as their most pressing support needs.